Why not a radio that has the general license defaults?

[thunderkiss65]

Hi. I am new to all this, but to me it seems there is no affordable radio out there that will let you exercise your full general license privileges. It makes no sense to me. Also, the captchas on this site seem excessive.

[gil]

Well, why get a crippled radio when you can get a full fledged one? There would be zero advantages in having a "General-only" radio. Besides, manufacturers build radios for a worldwide market, not just the United States. We are supposed to know our band limits, which is easy...

Gil

[Sparks]

Also, the captchas on this site seem excessive.

I remember I thought so, too, when I was new here. However, I think they disappear when you have posted a few times, ten maybe?

[gil]

Yes, they disappear...
Gil

[KK0G]

Hi. I am new to all this, but to me it seems there is no affordable radio out there that will let you exercise your full general license privileges. It makes no sense to me. Also, the captchas on this site seem excessive.

You think that's bad? Try finding an affordable radio that lets you exercise your full Extra class license privileges! :o  Hint - there isn't any rig I'm aware of that will allow you to exercise full privileges for either General or Extra class, hell there isn't even one that would allow full exercise of Technician class privileges. Full privileges for General would have to cover every band and mode all the way from HF to microwave. Affordable is also a completely relative term, what's affordable to me may be astronomical to someone else and vice versa. What exactly are you looking for and what kind of budget can you afford?

[thunderkiss65]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I have one more question about vhf and line of sight.

I have a hill about 200 ft away, which is really steep (a wall). On the other side of that hill, no more than a mile or two as the crow flies, is a repeater. Could I hit that repeater? The hill is maybe 350 to 400 ft high.

[cockpitbob]

You never know till you try.  From the sound of it, it probably wont work, but anything could happen including the signal bouncing off a building or different hill and hitting the repeater on the rebound.  Keep us posted.

[thunderkiss65]

Well I am going to buy a Yaesu ft60R and will build  a yagi dual band antenna  for sat work and try to hit the repeater at qth. It reallt doesnt matter much as I assume the county is pretty dead anyway, other than law/commercial frequencies which this radio will receive.

[thunderkiss65]

Anyway, I can drive around the hill about a 1/2 mile to a mile and hit it. It's sad I can't hit it at home. I have accepted the drawbacks of living here for years.

[thunderkiss65]

I am not even totally sure the repeater is still active. It shows up in some lists and not in others.