Which handheld radio?

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MountainDude

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MountainDude
Was waiting for the Sporty's PJ2, but the very first pirep is not good. The sole purpose of this thing is to work the one time you need it, so it has to be reliable.
I just want a simple one that I can plug my headset into (an adapter is fine). AA or built-in batteries are fine.
What are your recommendations?
 
I had the Sporty's SP400. Worked great for checking ATIS. First time I tried to use it for-realz, nada!

Airplane I bought had an iCom A23, the connector for the DC adapter failed, batteries last one flight.

I bought a Yaesu FT550. Been using it as my primary radio for over a year (almost 200 flt hours) in a non-electric light aircraft. The pigtail (headset adapter) failed last month, bought a new pigtail for $32 on Amazon, works great.
 
+1 for the Yaesu FT550
 
I have the Yeasu FT450 don't need the nav. Works great currently is the primary radio in my plane. Use the lithium batteries and carry the double A's as backup. I really like the big display.
 
I have a Yaesu that worked great till I dropped it...:(
 
I have a Yaesu 550 as well. If you've never used a hand held for real there's something besides the headset adapter to know:. The rubber duck antenna works fine on the ground getting ATIS but useless for communication inside a moving beer can at the edge of class D airspace.

The guys happy flying their J-3 or light experimental are all plugged into an external antenna.

In my Citabria I have a connector at the right edge of the panel that I can disconnect and plug the plane's antenna in without trying to reach the back of the radio (oh, and fly).

I recently I've used it in the T-6 by plugging into the plane's antenna. Works perfectly clear but of course the back seater can't hear anything.
 
Yaesu FTA-450L is a really good one!
I haveused lots of different handhelds and this is my favorite.
I have one in the Cub and one in the Stearman and they work well. In the Cub I just use the standard rubber antenna and on a really clear day I can hear calls about 200 miles away!
 
I've been using an Icom A23 for years...............even turned on 24/7 with only the wall charger and used as Unicom at M94. Still works great, but has many memory features that are hard to remember.
 
yaesu.jpg
kgruber said:
I've been using an Icom A23 for years...............even turned on 24/7 with only the wall charger and used as Unicom at M94. Still works great, but has many memory features that are hard to remember.
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Yes those older radio's are very hard to navigate through settings and memory features. I hate anything that I need a manual to operate.
This is why I recommended the FTA-450L. It has a nice size screen and easy to go through the settings and functions. No manual required :)
 
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pigpenracing said:
View attachment 80652

Yes those older radio's are very hard to navigate through settings and memory features. I hate anything that I need a manual to operate.
This is why I recommended the FTA-450L. It has a nice size screen and easy to go through the settings and functions. No manual required :)
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I agree with you on that. Since I dropped my Yaesu I have been debating whether or not to send it in for repairs. I'm guessing repairs plus shipping would be close to a new unit. I'll just get a new one. I do like the 450L's set up.
 
wilkersk said:
I had the Sporty's SP400. Worked great for checking ATIS. First time I tried to use it for-realz, nada!

Airplane I bought had an iCom A23, the connector for the DC adapter failed, batteries last one flight.

I bought a Yaesu FT550. Been using it as my primary radio for over a year (almost 200 flt hours) in a non-electric light aircraft. The pigtail (headset adapter) failed last month, bought a new pigtail for $32 on Amazon, works great.
Click to expand...

I have a Sportys SP200 I have used for the last 24 years or so. It is not compact and takes a ton of batteries, but it works.
 
I have used the Icon A5 for many years and like it a lot. Rechargable battery has limited life, but I also have an alkaline battery case, which I hkeep in reserve. Works well in the aircraft with the antenna stuck on the side window with an extension cable and suction cup.
 
I haven't played with the newest generations of handhelds yet. I have an Icom A24 with the Nav, there's really not much point in getting a handheld with the Nav functions. Using them in-flight is a real pain, since you would do it so rarely you'll forget how it works anyway.

In the glider club we always used handhelds, and we used them hard. I used Sporty's, Icom, and Vertex. I think someone even had an old King(?maybe?) I can't remember now, but I think it used 8-12 AA batteries - it was a big radio.

The differences I found were in the user-interfaces. Things like squelch and similar settings are sort of user-preference, you'll find it's easier on some brands than others but not everyone likes them the same way.

For use strictly as a backup radio, they are all going to be pretty much bullet proof. They are all solid, rain resistant, and have the same Rx sensitivity and Tx power. For ramp use, I think the Icoms were louder than the Vertex, and that's helpful if you use it on the ramp to get the weather while you preflight.

In-flight use will always be limited by the antenna, you'll be able to turn airport lights on and get tower communications, but trying to get much in the way of Rx/Tx from more than a few miles away will be a problem with all of them unless you connect to an external antenna.

If you add an external PTT, be aware there may be some feedback squeal through the headset mic circuit. My DC-13 and Icom combination with an external PTT will result in a squeal more often than not. It's easier for me to use the PTT switch on the radio and talk into the built-in mic than to use the headset mic. I can still use the headset for the audio, but using the mic can be a problem. In the glider I normally used a speaker/mic that I'd clip on my shoulder harness and avoided the headset entirely. There's a service bulletin (or used to be) on the Icom website that explained the situation.

Any of the big name brands are going to work well, but try to play with them before you decide. The controls are more intuitive on some than others, and that's all going to be up to how well they work for you.
 
I'm happy with my PJ2. Though one of the AA slots is too tight and I had to do some modification to open the plastic up a bit... I suspect less than ideal manufacturing. Otherwise I'm happy with it.
 
Matthew said:
I haven't played with the newest generations of handhelds yet. I have an Icom A24 with the Nav, there's really not much point in getting a handheld with the Nav functions. Using them in-flight is a real pain, since you would do it so rarely you'll forget how it works anyway.
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I'm in the same boat with my icom. I never can remember how to use any of the features in that thing.

I'd rather have something just dirt simple, punch or dial up a freq, dial for volume, another dial for squelch
maybe a quick punch up quick key for 121.5, otherwise no memory, no scanning, just simple.
 
No matter which make/model you choose, it's best to periodically use the radio and basic features to keep "current" with it's operations. If you ever NEED to use the handheld, the last thing you'll want to do is spend time screwing around trying to dial in a frequency. Icom, Sporty's and Yaesu all make solid coms. Ultimately it's a personal choice, on functionality, battery features and cost.
 
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We have lot of helicopters traffic med evac just talk Closed to airport works well I no what you are saying about battery case needed a little help but after that works well pj2
 
I recently went through this same question back in the summer, and bought a Yaesu 450 with lithium and regular battery tray at OSH. I keep a full battery tray as backup in my bag. I do need to test it in flight one day soon, haven't done that yet. When I later saw the new Sporty's PJ2 with dual inputs admit I was intrigued. Not having to fool with digging out an adapter under stress is one less thing to manage.
 
I've got two handhelds one is a Vertex (Yaesu) 710 that has 2M ham in addition to the aviation band and the other is an ancient Sportys SP-200 that I got for next to nothing off a fellow boardie here. The latter works like a champ. The former is not only harder to use, but it sounds like crap.
 
I bought a PJ2 to replace a Yaesu handheld that went TU, and had the reported problem with the battery pack. It worked fine with USB power, but nada on the battery pack. Troubleshooting the problem with a VOM, power was available at the spring conductors inside the battery pack, but when I slid the battery pack cover on there was no power on the battery pack cover connectors. The problem was that the spring connectors weren't making contact with the copper pads on the cover. Bending the springs very slightly to make reliable contact with the copper pads fixed the problem.

SportysPJ2BatteryPack_zpssp3maqdj.jpg


So far, I'm very pleased with the PJ2 on-the-air performance. With my bubble canopy the rubber duck antenna works pretty well. The "active-standby" frequency switching works great, and my A20 headset plugs right into jacks on the radio. I also really like the direct keypad frequency entry.

Just MHO.
 
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Stan Cooper said:
I bought a PJ2 to replace a Yaesu handheld that went TU, and had the reported problem with the battery pack. It worked fine with USB power, but nada on the battery pack. Troubleshooting the problem with a VOM, power was available at the spring conductors inside the battery pack, but when I slid the battery pack cover on there was no power on the battery pack cover connectors. The problem was that the spring connectors weren't making contact with the copper pads on the cover. Bending the springs very slightly to make reliable contact with the copper pads fixed the problem.

SportysPJ2BatteryPack_zpssp3maqdj.jpg


So far, I'm very pleased with the PJ2 on-the-air performance. With my bubble canopy the rubber duck antenna works pretty well. The "active-standby" frequency switching works great, and my A20 headset plugs right into jacks on the radio. I also really like the direct keypad frequency entry.

Just MHO.
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Thanks for the pirep. It's a shame this is a problem, given their "cutting edge products" claim. Hopefully they will fix it at the factory.
 
I agree; pretty lame QC, especially since it seems to be a common problem and the fix is so easily accomplished.
 
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