Everybody Wants a Handheld (and why they shouldn't)

On the Facebook and Reddit forums for new hams and GMRS ops, one thing is clear: everybody wants a handheld. Often as their first and only radio.

I get it. I have collected a couple or three dozen myself since the 1970s (6 or so in ‘active’ use today).

They can be inexpensive - sometimes ridiculously so, though they can also cost well over $500. They are convenient - no installation, goes anywhere.

And they don’t work very well 🫤 Even the $500+ models 😯

I mean, they do what they’re supposed to do. They just probably won’t do what you bought them for.

If you bought them to chat on your local repeater, you’ve probably found out that you have to be pretty close to the repeater for people to hear you reliably, while you can hear everyone else just fine.

No, I can’t define ‘pretty close’. That depends on all those things like antenna height and terrain. So it could be 3 miles or 30 (please ignore the inevitable “I talk through a repeater 100 miles away with my HT” comments. That takes a LOT of explanation that you never get). But compared to a 25 to 50 watt mobile with an antenna on the roof or trunk, the range is much shorter. Plenty of ‘nobody can hear me’ comments on those forums.

A fair compromise is connecting the handheld to that external antenna. That will give you a big boost compared to using the ‘rubber duck’ inside the car. But now you’re treading into installation territory. Add power from the vehicle, and a mic (often a speaker/mic), and you’ve got a lot of connecting and disconnecting to do. And you’re still at 5 watts or so. Which works surprisingly well, but you’ll still be hearing things when you’re out of transmit range.

I know I’m not going to talk you out of it. I wouldn’t be without a handheld myself. I’m saying that once you decide you like this radio stuff enough, and before frustration sets in with the limits of that handheld, get a mobile (and/or base) radio and install it.

That installation is kind of a pain. There are some fair options for ‘no holes’ antenna mounts, though I have a radio shop drill some holes, mount some antennas and run the coax to where I specify in the car. And I have them run power. Because taking down the headliner (with airbags), pulling up carpet and getting through the firewall isn’t my idea of fun. I’ve done it. But you may love that stuff, so do it. I just traded cars, and I’m about to do that with the new one.

Your radio operation will be much more satisfying, and even more convenient, at least after that initial effort to get things installed.

And the handheld will become a listening device mostly, or usable for its intended purpose - short range simplex out in the woods or at a hamfest, or talking through a repeater when you’re close enough and out on foot.

• Gary K4AAQ WRPG652