On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:04:26 EDT, Rob wrote:

Patty Winter wrote:
Anyway...this is the first time I've heard the 2m ham band mentioned
in a commercial for an AM/FM radio! I don't know whether the "CC Radio
2" is a new product, or whether they just hadn't mentioned this band
before. (It also gets the weather band.) They said that they had
included the 2m band in the radio so that listeners could get valuable
information during an emergency. Yay us! :-)

I wonder how useful (or lifesaving, as they claim) it would be to listen
in on amateur 2m communication during an emergency?

Maybe it would be more effective to budy a normal radio and one of
those Chinese 2m (or even dualband) portables?
(wouxun puxing weierwei fdc etc.)

This would at least have transmit capability...

I spent a few minutes searching the web for wouxun, puxing, weierwei
and fdc radios. I found models of wouxun and fdc which transmit in
the ham bands. These radios would be useful, provided that someone
buying one of these understands that (1) to transmit with it legally
they need a ham license (and abides by this rule); and that (2)
lacking a ham license they are not allowed to transmit with it unless
it is a real emergency and no other means of communications is
available.