What do you need?

The price of ham radio gear continues to drop.

I was looking into the ICom IC-V82, which is a 7W HT, and came across this QST review from 2005. At the end of the review, it shows a list price of $229.95. Well, you can buy one now for $60, discounted from the usual price of $70.

Meanwhile, an 8W BaoFeng BF-F8+ can be had for $34 -- half of the usual price of the IC-V82.

I can recall looking at a Motorola GP340 UHF HT in 2006 for possible GMRS use. I couldn't find one for less than $300, so I settled for a second (now discontinued) Maxon 210+3 at $175. Today, however, I could buy a GP340 for $125.

We've all heard the tired old cliche, "You get what you pay for". That's the universal answer. The question, however, is "What do you need?". Do you really need something that will last thirty years? Especially with regard to HT's, the term "ruggedness" is often tossed around as if it's a given that everyone spends a lot of time climbing mountains or something, and that your life will depend on your HT. I hear this from guys who struggle climbing a flight of stairs, and whose idea of "roughing it" is staying at Motel 6. The irony is that, the more you pay for an HT, the less likely you are to expose it to abuse.

I have several Chinese HT's (PuXing, TYT, and BaoFeng) and not a single one of them has broken in two years. I use them as mobiles, where they're exposed to heat and cold. I take them camping, where they're exposed to dew and smoke at the campsite, and bang around on brush when I'm hiking. I hand them to other people to use on MURS or GMRS when they go on a hike. Even if one does get damaged, I'm not worried about it. I didn't pay a lot for it, I've got my use out of it already, and I have another ready to take its place. My life isn't at stake if it fails. I don't spend my time fantasizing about some Apocalypse in which my HT could mean the difference between life or death, either.

Some people I've spoken with on-air have damaged BaoFeng UV-5R's, so maybe I've just been lucky. But these people aren't out of $200, nor were their very lives put in jeopardy by the failure of their radio. And the price has probably gone down for a replacement. If my $60 UV-5R fails, I can get a higher-powered BF-F8+ with upgraded firmware for a mere $34.

I also don't understand this idea that a radio is supposed to last thirty years, or else it's "junk". Who knows what the hobby is going to be like in thirty years? Everything could operate on some digital mode that hasn't even been invented yet. The demographic decline of licensees could mean that there's virtually no one to talk to. A new "must have" feature could come out that would make your expensive HT the butt of jokes. If my $75 PX-888K dies on me, I see that as an opportunity to get a more modern radio. How long before a Yaesu FT-60R gets below $100? I'm kind of glad that I didn't pay $300 for a GP340 nine years ago. Instead, I took the "cheap" way out and got a radio that still does exactly what it did when I bought it. Now I can buy a GP340 for less than half the price, and even less than my "cheap" solution cost back then. The typical wise geniuses told me that "I'd be sorry" for not spending the extra money. Well, I'm not.

If you can communicate with your radio, then it's doing what you need it to do. You're "getting what you paid for". Nobody ever asks, "What do I need?". Instead, it's always, "What's the best?". The same wise geniuses that paid $230 for an ICom IC-V82 in 2005 are still telling everyone that they need the best. Is their $230 HT four times as good as the IC-V82 that I can now buy for $60? These people don't have any kind of keen insight; their 'analysis' begins and ends at the price tag.