{"id":71,"date":"2023-04-12T12:45:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T18:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/?page_id=71"},"modified":"2025-06-09T16:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T22:34:53","slug":"vhf","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/vhf\/","title":{"rendered":"VHF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here in Canada our VHF bands are 6m, 2m and 135cm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6m (50-54 MHz)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I do have a radio capable of 6m, a Kenwood TS-680S<\/strong>, it is not entirely functional at present and my 6m antenna, a Cushcraft AR-6<\/strong>, is not currently installed. One day I will get that gear back on the air. Really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2m (144-148 MHz)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VHF FM<\/strong> is indispensable and used everywhere by everyone for every purpose imaginable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1985: GE Mastr II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2m<\/strong> was the very first band I operated on back in 1985. My first mobile radio was an old (even then) GE Mastr II<\/strong>. I think I paid $20<\/strong> for it. It had four crystal-controlled channels, it was huge it was heavy and mine came with exactly one set of crystals, for 146.94\/146.34 MHz which was in use by a local repeater, VE6MR, at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The control head and microphone I had were identical to those in the picture below but I think had a Motorola speaker on mine. The radio body was a massive thing that was behind the seat of my 1984 Dodge D100 truck and with a wiring harness the size of a small child’s arm snaking from the radio body to the control head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RF power amp and RF driver were vacuum tubes in this unit. I still have a spare 7984 PA tube for it, almost 40 years later. I used a Larsen 5\/8<\/strong>-wave vertical on a fender mount<\/strong>. That was my first ever mobile amateur radio station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The insides of the GE Mastr II were already familiar to me as it was the transceiver on which we practiced in our FM communications course at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) when I studied Electronics Engineering Technology<\/strong> there just a few years before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
General Electric Mastr II<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1988: My first real mobile radio: Icom IC-28H (2m)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not long before I upgraded to a modern 2m mobile radio. Icom was at the top of the heap at the time and so I bought one. I gained memories, 20 of them, plus CTCSS encode but no CTCSS decode, which was an option that I did not then need as no local repeaters used CTCSS tones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Icom was an excellent execution of RF design and manufacturing. While it is side-lined at present it still works perfectly well and I’d like to find a use for it somewhere, somehow. It deserves it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Icom IC-28H<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2015: Kenwood TM-281 (2m)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After my ~20 year hiatus from ham radio and finding the 20 memories of my trusty old IC-28H lacking, not to mention the poor CTCSS support in it, I purchased this TM-281 new in 2015 or thereabouts. This was intended for base-station use in the ham shack and I didn’t want any digital modes as they’re all proprietary which is something I will not support. Shame on Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu for their contributions to the Balkanization of VHF\/UHF FM communications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose this Kenwood over it’s competition based on it having my two must-have items: a front-firing speaker<\/strong> and no cooling fan<\/strong>. Nothing that Icom or Yaesu offered at the time met these needs so Kenwood won out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This radio feeds a Diamond X30A<\/strong> and the pair serve me well for 2m FM repeater and simplex work in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kenwood TM-281<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2020: Motorola XPR4550 (2m)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have two of these, one is in my truck, which you can read about in the “Mobile” section and the other is currently in my ham shack but not in use. I have threatened to install it in our little travel trailer and may yet do that. These are fantastic radios in every way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Motorola XPR4550<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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135cm (222-225 MHz)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have yet to own any 135cm gear. Perhaps one day. There is one local repeater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here in Canada our VHF bands are 6m, 2m and 135cm. 6m (50-54 MHz) While I do have a radio capable of 6m, a Kenwood TS-680S, it is not entirely functional at present and my 6m antenna, a Cushcraft AR-6, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-71","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1389,"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71\/revisions\/1389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve6bc.radio\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}