I have had a VXA700 for about 3 years and have some comments on its
use. The VXA700 is unique in that it combines a ham transceiver with an
aircraft band transceiver. A group of us at Minden like to talk a lot
in the air and, since we are mostly old hanglider and paraglider
pilots, have had ham licenses for years. We talk on the ham frequecies
a lot and do not worry other pilots. We have installed the VXA700 in
our gliders using ICOM antenna switch boxes so that the glider antennas
can be used for either the internal radios or the VXA700. This system
has worked well for us. There are a couple of caveats however. The
VXA700 is primarily a ham radio with an additional capability to
transceive the aircraft band. As such it does not generate as much
power as a typical hand held aircraft band transceiver. Secondly it was
designed for quieter environments than a glider and distorts at high
volumes so I use an optional speaker/mike clipped to a safety belt
below my mouth and ear. This works well.
I am using only the VXA700 in my SparrowHawk and find that using the
SparrowHawk antenna can communicate about 100 miles in the air on both
the ham and aircraft frequencies. It is therefore a real success in
this application and I hope that Vertex does not discontinue this dual
band radio. It would be a real loss since there is no equivalent.
Dave