Hand Held Transceivers

1
Hand Held Transceivers

• ARRL Book Section 3.4

2
The HT

• Some people call them walkie talkies
• Most amateur radio operators consider that a word
  for a toy
• Can also be called Hand Held Transceiver, Hand
  Transceiver, or HT (anyone want to guess what HT
  stands for?)

3
Warnings

• People may think HT is a great mobile first
  choice its not
• We are very spread out, power of an HT will
  really limit you
• An HT has 2.5 to 7 watts of power, a mobile has
  25 to 75 watts
• HTs are generally limited to battery packs that
  last only a few hours they dont have the
  staying power for a long emergency operation
• People may buy used equipment HTs have often
  been handled rough and have much higher risk of
  being bad.
• Chris said mobile first for a reason

4
More Limitations

• HTs marketers try to put out cheap packages
  antenna is a short cut area a crumby antenna is
  a great way to waste power
• Short stuby antenna on an HT is called a rubber
  duck
• A Rubber Duck Antenna does not transmit a signal
  as efficiently as a full sized antenna (T9A04)
• One Way to get a stronger signal from a hand held
  is to use an external antenna (T7A03)
• Most radios have plug at top called a BNC
  connection
• Can get a full size antenna with a BNC connection
  or a BNC connection adaptor
• There are a few HTs that have SMA plug connections

5
Polarization Perils

• Mentioned that radio waves in fact have a
  magnetic wave and an electrical wave
• Which one faces up is very important
• Most mobiles and repeaters using FM are
  vertically polarized ie antenna faces straight
  up and down.
• (most side band work is horizontally polarized)
• If one antenna is vertical and the other is
  horizontal the signal between them can be 100
  times weaker (T9B08)
• Problem for Handheld it is easy to tip the
  antenna off vertical
• When trying to reach a distant repeater keep the
  antenna as near vertical as possible (T9B07)