Foundations of Amateur Radio

A regular question that I hear from amateurs, both new and experienced ones, is "What radio should I purchase?". It's a simple question that doesn't have a simple answer.

The obvious variables, budget, size, frequency and modes are one side of the coin, and when you start looking, you'll learn that there is a lot of information on the subject. You'll learn that you can get amateur radios from $15 to $20,000 and everything in between. To be clear, I'm just talking about the radio, not the power supply, the amplifier, microphone, computer, antenna, interfaces, Morse key and the like.

Unless you won LOTTO yesterday, and not even then, you should probably not buy a $20,000 radio first up, but if you do, make sure you give me a call and I'll help you test it.

The question that often happens is, should I buy a Yaesu or Icom, which is like asking, should I buy a Mac or PC, or a Holden or a Ford. As you know, there are many different options and the same is true for your radio.

The reality is that unless you have specialised measuring equipment, most modern radios are pretty similar. That's not to say that they are the same, far from it, it's just that you are unlikely to come across a situation where you'd actually notice, since the variables that make up our hobby are so vast, propagation, antennas, local environment and the like, that any slight differences in radio performance are likely to be completely masked by other factors.

Again, I'm not saying that there are no differences. If you have a shack where you have 10 radios side-by-side, all connected to the same antenna, you'll be able to notice differences, sometimes they'll even be significant, but overall, in day-to-day operation, other variables beyond the simple metric of "performance" are more important.

The budget you have is a big factor when you get your radio, and don't spend more than 50% of your total budget on the radio, since you'll need a whole lot of other stuff that simply isn't in the box. Antennas, power supplies, coax, headphones, microphones, etc. are just the basics.

When you've narrowed it down to a couple of radios, go and visit some shacks and see them in operation. Try to work like you would work on one of those radios. If you're a contester, try a contest on a friend's radio, if you like working portable, go out with your friend and see how the radio performs.

There's nothing wrong with picking the radio that your friend has, since it will help you learn more about your own gear.

Since my first purchase I've learned lots about radios. I have no regrets that my first radio was a Yeasu 857d, but I picked it because it suited me. I can tell you that I don't think that my next radio will be the same. There is lots that I like, and some things I don't.

Even the most experienced ham asks their friends for their opinion. My current one is to recommend an open source software defined radio, but I've not actually used one yet and I already know I dislike the software that it ships with, so there's that.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB.