Radio advice - newbie

I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

Thanks in advance.

"Roger Worden" wrote in message
om...
I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For
general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

I have never seen the SP-200 so can't comment. You will never go wrong
with a Vertex or Icom, they are the Toyota and Honda of that particular
market.

Vaughn



Thanks in advance.

Roger,
I did a ton of Research and went with the Icom A5 although not cheap it is a
great Handheld. I can't speak for the other models. The only caveat is that it
does Not give you a battery level. It flashes a battery sign about a few
minutes before it dies.

Douglas

"Vaughn" wrote in message ...
"Roger Worden" wrote in message
om...
I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For
general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

I have never seen the SP-200 so can't comment. You will never go wrong
with a Vertex or Icom, they are the Toyota and Honda of that particular
market.

Vaughn


I would like to second Vaughn's comment. I have an Icom IC20 since
1988 and it works well. They rugged and reliable.

Ulrich Neumann
Libelle 'GM'




Thanks in advance.

"Roger Worden" wrote:

I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

Thanks in advance.



Shortly after I got my license in 1992 I asked some ham radio
operators in my soaring club which brand of hand held radio to buy.
They all recommended the Icom brand and very reliable. I purchased an
Icom AC21 in 92. I run a commercial glider operation and was in need
of a second hand held and purchased an Icom AC-4, 4 years ago. Both
are still working flawlessly. If I lost one of them I would not
hesitate to purchase another Icom.

I forgot to add that I prefer to buy the smallest radio I can find and
then wear it around my neck on a light lanyard. I never have to fumble for
my radio and it is never adrift in the cockpit. (nothing more fun than a
radio or a drink bottle down around your rudder peddles)
For the record, I now use a Vertex Pro V, but I think that Icom makes a
comparable unit.

Vaughn

"Vaughn" wrote in message
...

"Roger Worden" wrote in message
om...
I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For
general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

I have never seen the SP-200 so can't comment. You will never go
wrong
with a Vertex or Icom, they are the Toyota and Honda of that particular
market.

Vaughn



Thanks in advance.

never wear anything around the neck lest you want to be choked by it...

get an ICOM.. then get the "speaker/mic" combination unit that plugs into
the top.. ICOM carried on belt or hip pocket.. or inside windbreaker jacket
pocket... speaker/mic clips to shirt collar or glider shoulder seat belt
straps (like a traffic cop)

JMHO
BT

"Vaughn" wrote in message
...
I forgot to add that I prefer to buy the smallest radio I can find
and
then wear it around my neck on a light lanyard. I never have to fumble
for
my radio and it is never adrift in the cockpit. (nothing more fun than a
radio or a drink bottle down around your rudder peddles)
For the record, I now use a Vertex Pro V, but I think that Icom makes
a
comparable unit.

Vaughn

"Vaughn" wrote in message
...

"Roger Worden" wrote in message
om...
I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For
general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing
about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

I have never seen the SP-200 so can't comment. You will never go
wrong
with a Vertex or Icom, they are the Toyota and Honda of that particular
market.

Vaughn



Thanks in advance.

"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:rfezb.892$yf.327@fed1read01...
never wear anything around the neck lest you want to be choked by it...
(sigh) Always someone on the Internet to tell you that what you are
doing is mortally dangerous. I did say "light" lanyard and you could just
as easily get wound up and horribly injured in the cord for that speaker
mike. (said with a grin)

That said, if you are wearing a chute, extra lanyards, cords, water
hoses etc. should be thought out very carefully.

get an ICOM.. then get the "speaker/mic" combination unit that plugs into
the top.. ICOM carried on belt or hip pocket.. or inside windbreaker
jacket
pocket... speaker/mic clips to shirt collar or glider shoulder seat belt
straps (like a traffic cop)

That is a perfectly valid way of doing it, I just don't like carrying
that extra hardware around. My entire radio is only about double the size
of some speaker mikes I have seen and there is one less thing to break.

Vaughn

Roger, I have a Like New Sportys handheld Com radio that i will make
you a really good deal on. It is a very nice and easy to use radio
that has only been used a couple of times.

Let me know if you are interested.

Joe Simmers
Ohio,usa

"Roger Worden" wrote in message . com...
I'm a student pilot, and it's about time for me to get a radio. For general
soaring purposes, what's a decent handheld? I really know nothing about
them. Is the Sporty's SP-200 a good choice?

Thanks in advance.

Shortly after I got my license in 1992 I asked some ham radio
operators in my soaring club which brand of hand held radio to buy.
They all recommended the Icom brand and very reliable. I purchased an
Icom AC21 in 92. I run a commercial glider operation and was in need
of a second hand held and purchased an Icom AC-4, 4 years ago. Both
are still working flawlessly. If I lost one of them I would not
hesitate to purchase another Icom.

I bought the original ICOM AC20 back in the late 80's. I instruct and it
gets a lot of use and abuse - it's been dropped, among other things.
Last year, I replaced the antenna connector (it broke off of the circuit
board) and a few years before that, the rechargable battery pack.

I'd like to replace it with the smaller AC22 or the smaller yet AC4 but
the damned thing just won't die.

Back when I bought the AC20, the only competing product was the King
KX-99. Like JC, I went with the ICOM because of its rock solid
reputation in the ham radio community.

You can't go wrong with ICOM.

Tony V.