Buying Hand Held Transeiver - Aus
I am in the market for a Hand Held Transceiver. A fairly simple task I would think, Then again, possibly not.
Reading the reviews, no company has made a good, simple, legal, Transceiver (for Aus).
Add to that the issue with buying overseas, as then no one will repair if required, Some threads also claim the overseas versions (eg: Icom) are illegal to use here as they may be inferior. I've also read claims the Authority have gone to Airshows and fined people listening on these overseas purchased models of Transceivers, although Aus versions of the same Transceivers are available here. (eg: Icom A6 bought overseas).
Some are legal only for ground use, air use or both.
Anyone using any of the following Transceivers, or what different Brand / Model do you have that you would recommend.
Must be Hand Held Transceiver, Air Band, (Nav band or GPS good, but not required) if not too much extra cost.
For Ground use, but carried in Aircraft for backup, and I would like to install an antenna at home to plug in at home to improve reception range.
Icom IC-A15
Looks good but has the below Statement on one Aussie website
Icom has just received special permission from the ACMA to recommence sale of the IC-A15 airband portable radio as a non-standard device in the interim period before a fully compliant radio is available.
Users should be made aware that these units may not meet the full performance requirements of the current A/NZS standard and should evaluate the supplied performance characteristics against their needs.
The radios will be supplied with documentation outlining the conditions of supply and will be marked so that users can be sure they are receiving an appropriately configured device.
Icom A6
Appears it was removed from sale for a period (possibly, headset would not work with it as advertised) and other criticisms about complicated programming, battery life , battery indicator (or lack of). Lack of accessories that come with the unit and must be bought separately (at inflated prices).
Poor charger that will overcharge (ruin) battery if left on.
Icom A24 (Same criticisms as the A6)
Yaesu FTA 750
Poor / Cumbersome Software
Poor Transmission
Poor GPS
Buttons too small
Locks up when trying to use a GPS function when no signal
Yaesu FTA 230
Poor squelch in aircraft
Small buttons
These are some of the comments I've read on each. There are some good reviews of each of these models too.
Any opinions?
Last edited by Acrosport II; 19th Jan 2016 at 02:02.