POWERBOOK asked:
I have been looking into survival and bug out gear on the internet and on you tube. What radio transceiver would you choose if a disaster or terrorist attack hit and you had to leave your home. I have been looking at the YAESU VX-7R & YAESU VX-8R what do you think of these radio's?
Mountain House Freeze Dried Food
I have been looking into survival and bug out gear on the internet and on you tube. What radio transceiver would you choose if a disaster or terrorist attack hit and you had to leave your home. I have been looking at the YAESU VX-7R & YAESU VX-8R what do you think of these radio's?
Mountain House Freeze Dried Food
Camping Discounters
February 23rd, 2010
Nitro-Pak
I have a VX-7R and it’s great. Now that the VX-8R’s out I probably would have gone with it based on features alone, however it seems to me you’d be more interested in the ruggedness of the VX-7R. It’s a pretty solid built radio and can take abuse. They’re both submersible and maybe the VX-8r can take abuse too; time will tell. The VX-8r has built in APRS support which can be great in an emergency situation where an EOC needs to see where everyone assisting is located at any given time. The optional GPS puck maximizes this of course. VX8r has bluetooth capabilities which can be handy as a wireless hands free system.
Keep in mind that these radios only transmit on 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm which are all generally local communication bands. If you’re without a repeater or a satellite in view, you’re not going to be able to communicate a heck of a lot of distance, especially with the supplied antenna. They both can receive shortwave although the ferrite rod antenna built into the VX8 is better suited for this. Personally, I’d like to have an HF radio and easily deployed antenna for an emergency. The little HT’s are great for local emergency coordination but if things really hit the fan and you want a way to talk to the outside world, only an HF radio is going to cut it. A little FT-857 and a trolling motor battery and a roll of wire for an antenna would do wonders. An FT-817 is even more portable with an internal battery but limited to 5W. Something to think about.