Extremely versatile radio
First of all, I'm a complete beginner to the ham radio hobby. I won't repeat all the reviews and tutorials there are about this particular radio, as there are many good ones on Youtube, etc. You will also find there much more informed opinions of this radio than I'm qualified to give at this point. But basically, this is the new Bao Feng, I'm told.
I got this radio for offroad camping using resource roads where you are supposed to listen to and call out your miles along the road for safety with other traffic. This radio covers all the needed UHF and VHF frequencies for that. Note that you must have a license to transmit on those commercial frequencies.
So the radio really comes with everything you need to get started. Mainly the radio, battery, charging dock, USB charger and cable, 3 different antennae, depending on your frequency band, and data cable, and a belt clip.
The radio battery can be charged either with the docking station or via the included USB-C cable.
An earpiece or external microphone is not included, but I believe it uses the standard Motorola type connection, and those accessories are inexpensive and readily available.
There is an included instruction sheet, or "cheat sheet", really. The full instructions are available for download, as it is quite involved. Again, the YouTube tutorials are your friend if you are a beginner.
The radio itself is very well made. Hard to believe for what these sell for, but this thing is a pretty solid feeling piece of gear. The colour display is very clear and easy to read, if a bit small (but it's a very compact radio). The sound quality from the built-in speaker is very good for a small radio.
Did I mention it also has FM band?
The radio can be programmed with a number of widely available software packages. I believe the most popular one is called CHIRP. It is free software and it supports the Talkpod A36. Again, lots of tutorials on that software, as well.
As this radio has so many features and functions, it will take some patience and time to learn all about it, but I'm pretty excited to dig in.
Overall, if you are new to ham radio, just monitoring channels, or using this for other purposes, you really can't go wrong with the Talkpod A36.
First of all, I'm a complete beginner to the ham radio hobby. I won't repeat all the reviews and tutorials there are about this particular radio, as there are many good ones on Youtube, etc. You will also find there much more informed opinions of this radio than I'm qualified to give at this point. But basically, this is the new Bao Feng, I'm told.
I got this radio for offroad camping using resource roads where you are supposed to listen to and call out your miles along the road for safety with other traffic. This radio covers all the needed UHF and VHF frequencies for that. Note that you must have a license to transmit on those commercial frequencies.
So the radio really comes with everything you need to get started. Mainly the radio, battery, charging dock, USB charger and cable, 3 different antennae, depending on your frequency band, and data cable, and a belt clip.
The radio battery can be charged either with the docking station or via the included USB-C cable.
An earpiece or external microphone is not included, but I believe it uses the standard Motorola type connection, and those accessories are inexpensive and readily available.
There is an included instruction sheet, or "cheat sheet", really. The full instructions are available for download, as it is quite involved. Again, the YouTube tutorials are your friend if you are a beginner.
The radio itself is very well made. Hard to believe for what these sell for, but this thing is a pretty solid feeling piece of gear. The colour display is very clear and easy to read, if a bit small (but it's a very compact radio). The sound quality from the built-in speaker is very good for a small radio.
Did I mention it also has FM band?
The radio can be programmed with a number of widely available software packages. I believe the most popular one is called CHIRP. It is free software and it supports the Talkpod A36. Again, lots of tutorials on that software, as well.
As this radio has so many features and functions, it will take some patience and time to learn all about it, but I'm pretty excited to dig in.
Overall, if you are new to ham radio, just monitoring channels, or using this for other purposes, you really can't go wrong with the Talkpod A36.
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