use of exports on 10 meters

[Yankee]

I have a little RM amp which is about as small as they get. I use it now and then, but the 2985 has a RF power dial that I can get about 25w out of in SSB and under 10 in AM. I get out fine with the dipole with no amp at all. I just have to wait for a contact that moves the S meter a bit. Even those loud ones rarely move the needle and they are covered up by a hundred people trying them. The more modest sounding station is clearer and can usually hear me fine, so we can exchange numbers and have a little chat while all the fat boys are talking over the top of us. Like ants at the picnic.

 

[w9cll]

Way OT but anyway.. In my 11 meter days I had an Avanti PDLII on a 55ft Rohn crank up along with a Shakespear Big Stick. Rigs varied but over time I used a Cobra 135xlr, President Grant, Tram D201a (loaned)and finally an Icom 720a. Only amp I ever had was an older Sonar tubed model BR-23 that I modified the T/R circuits to put a delay in for SSB.

For mobile I used the Grant with a 7 foot Broadstick mounted on the trunk.

Export rigs were not as readily available as they are today. They were out but hard to find.

Oh I did have for a short period of time a Lafayette 2400FM export.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

I bought a Galaxy 2100 and a Tristar 120 channel radio in the eighties before Internet. There used to be a cb shop that we bought our non-type accepted radios from. They would ask if I work for the FCC. I didn't know they were export radios. Everything was hush hush back then.

 

[Yankee]

When I bought my Texas Star back in the 80's, the only way you could get one was go to a CB shop out in the back of a small truck stop West of Fort Worth, and you only got that by word of mouth from another trucker.

When you went up to the CB shop, at the back edge of the parking lot, the door was locked. I saw a guy inside and knocked and he came to the door and asked what I wanted. I told him I heard he sold Texas Stars. LOL, he said who told you that. I told him another trucker. He asked me where my truck was and what kind of radio I had. I had to take him to the truck and show him the Cobra and antennas. I didn't figure out for a couple years that he was really making sure I WAS a trucker and not some FCC weenie.

Then, to top it off, I had to pay him cash up front, leave my radio so he could match and tune it all up and then pick it up on the way back through. That was tough. I was on my way back to Phoenix and it would be a week before I got back that way and not even sure I would get another run over that route. But it worked out and I used that amp for years. :

 

[Watergate]

The shop I bought my first 2510 from back in '05 made me sign a release stating that I would use the radio for testing purposes only into a dummy load, or get licensed and us it on 10 meters only.

He said he wasn't real worried about an FCC bust, but figured if he got a release for every Export he sold, then he had insurance.

As to the OP question, I still use that 2510, and other 2510s I have acquired over the years on 10 and (oh the humanity) 11 meters. I have found a few ham ops that will cut the conversation short when they find out I'm using a cursed Export rig on their precious bands, but the vast majority love the idea of my $200 mobile station working the world.

 

[VA3ES]

I've been a ham since 1969. I use "export/10M" (2510, Optima) radios on 10M all the time, both mobile and at home. Convenient and cheap, and they get the job done. If anyone doesn't like the rig I'm running, they can kiss my a$$.

 

[binrat]

My current mobile setup is a Optima mk2 and a 102" whip for 10 metres. Also have a Kenwood dual bander with APRS as well but I talk more on 10 metres. I've gotten more qSL card via the mobile compared to the base. Never a negative comment from the other end besides that they have never heard on the Optima but always it sounds good.

 

[VA3ES]

My current mobile setup is a Optima mk2 and a 102" whip for 10 metres. Also have a Kenwood dual bander with APRS as well but I talk more on 10 metres. I've gotten more qSL card via the mobile compared to the base. Never a negative comment from the other end besides that they have never heard on the Optima but always it sounds good.

Are you using the Icom HM-36 mic on it? I am, and find I get superb audio reports.

 

[binrat]

Are you using the Icom HM-36 mic on it? I am, and find I get superb audio reports.

Yes, I had the hm-36 purchased and waiting for the Optima to arrive. I don't even know where the stock mic is now.