Railfan Technology > was told that Motorola bought Yeasu

=15.6pxThen a week later came across some Yeasu 2980 2 meter radio's (maybe over stock) ?

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

The joint venture with Motorola only lasted a few years and ended many years ago.  Yaesu and Vertex Standard are still in business.

Thank you, was / am still thinking of a 2980 to retire my vx170, your thoughts ?, TIA  Ed

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

I've posted about this so many times that it's tiresome, but here goes again.  With only a very few exceptions, amateur radios do not have the capability to tune the "splinter" analog channels created by narrow-banding back in 2013.  The reason is that the amateur channels that they are specifically designed to use are still wide-band. Why is this important?  Two reasons:

1.  Let me illustrate by using a sample slice of the AAR Channel configuration.  Prior to 2013, it looked like this.  ARR Channel 23 was a frequency of 160.455 mHz.  Channel 24 was 160.470 mHz.  Here's what it looks like after 2013.  Channel 023 is 160.4550 mHz, Channel 123 is 160.46250, and Channel 024 is 160.4700.  Ah, there is a new AAR channel (Channel 123) between the two prior existing channels.  Now, to be able to tune that new "splinter" analog channel, a radio must have 2.5 kHz frequency tuning steps.  With only a couple of exceptions, amateur radios only have a 5 kHz frequency tuning step.  So, should a railroad decide to use one of those splinter channels, a 5 kHz tuning step radio won't tune the channel.  Sadly, the Ting step parameter is often absent in radio advertising and is often only found in the radio's owner's manual.  For the record, the Yaesu 2980 radio referenced above only has a 5 kHz tuning step.

2.  The bad news for amateur radios for railfanning doesn't stop there. Many amateur radios offer a "narrow-band" feature--but it often only affects the transmit side of the radio, so the radio may be effectively "listening" on wide band.  That means that a transmission on a splinter channel will not only be non-tunable on the radio, but the transmission may "bleed over" in the radio to the adjacent non-splinter channels and interfere with reception on them.  

That is why I now recommend, the Uniden BC-125AT portable scanner (notwithstanding some warts that it has)  for an inexpensive  portable radio for analog railroad radio scanning because it will truly "narrow-band" and tune the splinter channels while maintaining some fairly decent performance.  In a mobile model, the relatively inexpensive (but getting hard to find) Kenwood amateur mobile  TM-281A is one of that very select group of amateur radios that will tune the splinter channels and is also a very good performer.  Beyond those, I recommend getting a commercial radio.

Thank You WW , I also have the BC 125 and now will keep it and forget the 2980, Ed

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

I've done well with my BC125, which I've had for several years, and am quite satisfied with it. Just paired it up with a new Laird antenna that WW recommended (sorry, don't recall the model right now or have the paperwork handy). A very nice gain in performance resulted. A quite acceptable pairing at reasonable cost.

I know it gets tireseome to have to regularly restate your comments, WW, but I certainly appreciate them, as well as those of others who also delve more deeply than some of us do into the radio world. Thanks again for sharing your expertise with us.

MC

I own two Icom IC-92AD handheld radios that have excellent RX sensitivity in the RR freqs and have true narrowband RX capability.

I owned the 1st IC-92AD for a few years and had been so impressed I purchased a 2nd unit used in mint condition for a decent price for my backup unit. The IC-92AD is that good. The IC-92AD is also waterproof and is built with a diescast housing.

I also own the BC125AT and the IC-92AD is much more sensitive RX radio.  

OK, so here we go again!  The IC-92AD may be a fine radio, BUT IT WILL NOT TUNE THE SPLINTER AAR CHANNELS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE 2.5 kHz TUNING STEPS.  That is right in their published specs for the radio.  

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, so here we go again!  The IC-92AD may be a
> fine radio, BUT IT WILL NOT TUNE THE SPLINTER AAR
> CHANNELS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE 2.5 kHz TUNING
> STEPS.  That is right in their published specs
> for the radio.  

I have no need to listen to splinter bands where I frequent and sensitivity is much more important for my scanning needs. When using the IC-92AD I have picked up train crew radio located 35 miles away, sometimes further if atmospheric conditions are perfect for signal skipping.

I looked up the BC125AT user manual. Listed specs are very limited and the manual does not list RX frequency tuning steps specs. The only data listed for frequency banding steps is for the US and Canada market as listed on pages 13 & 14. Page 13 is attached. 

The BC125AT is a nice delicate toy. Mine will stay in the storage drawer remaining in mint condition while my very sensitive 92AD continues to see daily use.

---

The BC-125AT does have 2.5 kHz tuning steps--mine has all the splinter channels programmed, along with the AAR "regular" narrow-band VHF channels.  I've reviewed the BC-125AT extensively in other posts.  Yes, it is "fragile" compared to commercial portable radios.  Its performance is actually pretty good--when equipped with a decent aftermarket antenna.

I haven't personally used the Icom IC-92AD and it likely does perform well on the channels that it can tune.  One of my great frustrations with most of the radio manufacturers is that they stubbornly will not offer amateur radios with 2.5 kHz tuning steps when they know that many users of those amateur radios also use them to monitor outside of the amateur bands, where splinter channel use outside is becoming common.

When it comes to VHF analog portable radio performance, I've yet to find anything that outperforms the discontinued TK-290 commercial portable.  Unfortunately, its 160 channel capacity is its weak spot--not enough space to program both the "regular" and splinter AAR VHF channels.The Icom IC-F3161D (or its sister the 3261) or the Kenwood NX-200 (or sister 210)--that are also NXDN digital-capable radios--come very close in performance to the TK-290. A new note here:  it appears that the NX-200 and NX-210 have been dropped from the Kenwood lineup--they no longer show on Kenwood's website. The NX-210 was the Kenwood portable with the enlarged key keypad that was specifically designed with the railroads in mind.