"Bob D." wrote in message ...
After years off the air, I'm ready to get back on. I want to keep it
simple though. I picked up a 6m/2m/440 Yaesu VX-7 HT at Dayton and I plan
to use it for both base and mobile.

This is a reasonable starting place, but you're likely to find that a
multiband HT has a couple of limitations which make it less than ideal
for use in base and mobile applications.

For one: HTs tend to have broadly-tuned front ends, optimized for fairly
low incoming-signal levels. This is what's needed to provide
wide-range multiband operation with a rubber dummy-load antenna.
Unfortunately, as a result, many HTs are very prone to strong-signal
overload and intermod, especially when hooked to a good antenna. If
you hook an HT to a halfwave dipole or full-length quarterwave whip on
a good ground plane, you may find it being "blasted open" by pager
signals and other strong local transmissions. This can be a real
limitation for base-station operation, and sometimes requires the use
of a narrowband notch filter to reject the pager or other strong
out-of-band signals.

In mobile operations, the lack of a separate squelch control can be a
problem on some HTs. Desired-signal and interference levels can vary
quite a lot as you drive along, and it's no fun at all (and not very
safe) to have to try to hit an HT's buttons to bring up a
squelch-setting menu while driving.

An HT is usable in both base and mobile situations, but if you find
yourself using it a lot you may also find yourself wanting a rig with
a more robust front-end. A small mobile radio could serve that
purpose in both mobile and base applications.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!