Radioman wrote in message ...
Save your pennies and wait to buy an IC-706...
It has what you want AND what you need.

The 706 has ZERO intermod rejection. the IC-2100 works under
the big tall tower in my front yard. This same tower blanks
a friend's 706 from 3 exits away. My HTX-242 dies about an
exit away from home. I have only a crackle in a few freqs
with my 2100.

If you are out in the country, a 706 is a good mobile radio,
just don't expect it to reject pagers on 2 meters.

BTW, an IC-706MKIIG starts at $760. An IC-2100H is $150.
You will find antenna height, then gain, followed by power
to be the most important factors. Half a watt 100 feet up
will contact more then 100 watts half a foot up. VHF & UHF
are basically line of site regardless of mode.


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I'm profoundly elmer-less insofar, and the jargon used throws me off
completely. I hope you don't mind taking some time to educate me.
I'm assuming the tower in your front yard is your antenna, and
"blanking" a friend's 706, I cannot begin to imagine what that means.
(We all got started somewhere, I apologize if this is common knowledge
among hams, but I am not one yet.) I'm not sure what an HTX-242 is,
but my research shows that it's a mobile from Rat Shack. I am
decisively out in the country. What's worse, I'm in a dell. (I'm
right smack dab in the sticks in a lovely town called Loomis, CA.) I
have 1.5 Watt walkie talkie's that are supposed to be able to transmit
upwards of 5 miles from my home, but once I start up the hill, or
rather, begin to go DOWN the hill away from the house, the signal is
lost. I can fire my red ryder bb gun farther than the signal goes,
which seems to illustrate that my transmission point is less than
desireable. I am willing to travel somewhere in order to be able to
use the radio, but I'd quite measureably be inclined to want to
operate from home. My complete absence of antenna know-how (This is
my WEAKEST link, actually. I'll be studying this element intensively
during the week before I take the test. On the internet, I pass the
test every time, but just barely. I digress) ... My complete absence
of antenna know-how has me wondering just what I might be able to
utilize for transmissions. I will need something portable, something
that can be set up and taken down rather easily. (That having been
said, on our property we have some very tall willow trees that,
interestingly enough, took a tremendous beating during the storm we
had yesterday) and I know a dipole antenna won't work with this kind
of radio... So you see, my knowledge is glaringly nonexistent. I can
wait a while longer before I get a radio, but if I can spend $150 on a
mobile rig, and have it perform really nicely for me, I would be most
excited to do so. I apologize if this e-mail is a bit verbose.

I have another question... And again, forgive my utter ignorance he
Can these radios be plugged in a cigarette lighter in the vehicle,
driven to a tall location, simply having an antenna mounted on the
roof (wire in through window) and someone can CQ from inside the
vehicle? I know this sounds a skosh crude, but it's not entirely
without it's prospect of being fun.

Any info greatly appreciated!

DJM