I need some opinions. I'm looking for a new radio for my truck. The guy I'm most likely to talk with, is saying get a quad band. I think I'll be fine with a dual band. I'm not a hard core enthusiast. I just want to be able to talk to people in my region, if needed, say after a disaster, or shtf, etc... I'd like to be able to find out what's going on around me, out to the neighboring state max. Let me know what you all think. Thanks in advance.
Dual band vs. Quad band mobile
- Thread starter KG5CPA
- Start date
gary in ohio
Explorer
most quad bands are 10m,6m, 2m and 70cm. 10/6 are hit mis bands but great when open. 2/70cm are the main ham bands.
Not bad to have extra bands but antennas become more complex. Not bad to have extra bands if there is any local use (repeater or simplex)
Figure your quad band will spend most of its time on the 2/70cm and you can explore other bands. Most dual vs quad band radios are not that much difference in price so a few buck more for 4 bands might be worth it but know the other band limitations.
Not bad to have extra bands but antennas become more complex. Not bad to have extra bands if there is any local use (repeater or simplex)
Figure your quad band will spend most of its time on the 2/70cm and you can explore other bands. Most dual vs quad band radios are not that much difference in price so a few buck more for 4 bands might be worth it but know the other band limitations.
Javelinadave
Adventurer
I have never found a need for anything other than 2m/70cm. Go dual band and save yourself some $$$$.
CaliMobber
Adventurer
Stick with a good 2m/70cm
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If it would fit, I'd get a single band 2m and use the money saved on something else. Unless, that is, the only repeaters in your area are 440.
If someone were to give me a 4 band mobile, I'd sell it. The reason being, all the quad band mobiles I know of are FM only. I don't see a point in 6 or 10m FM mobile, but that might be just me.
For a radio to tell you what's going on in a disaster, I'd carry a portable TV. FM/AM radio around here is useless for news, as most of the time even the news stations aren't manned, they're on satellite feeds, and the news crews are sparse.
If someone were to give me a 4 band mobile, I'd sell it. The reason being, all the quad band mobiles I know of are FM only. I don't see a point in 6 or 10m FM mobile, but that might be just me.
For a radio to tell you what's going on in a disaster, I'd carry a portable TV. FM/AM radio around here is useless for news, as most of the time even the news stations aren't manned, they're on satellite feeds, and the news crews are sparse.
Javelinadave
Adventurer
The reviews are all over the place. I'll wait a bit before I venture down that road.
Quad band radios are more of a gimmick than useful. First, most activity on 10m and 6m will be ssb, not FM. Also, the FM portion of 10m cant be used by techs. Second, there are only a couple of antennas that I'm aware of that do all for bands, and each one costs ~$100 each. Otherwise, you're looking at diplexers and multiple antennas. I'd stick with a dual band radio. If you want 6 and 10 later on, save for a mobile HF radio or for 10m look for something like the Radio Shack HTX-10 or HTX-100 that do cw, ssb, and (in the 100 iirc) FM as well. Can be found for ~$100-150.
