VHF handhelds that are less susceptible to intermod/overload?

Equipment Radios & Power
41

Spencer,
Yes to still having the V86, it is a keeper. With the extra power output I have made numerous 90KM+ contacts with just an aftermarket rubber ducky while activating.
I have never killed the battery during an activation (yet).
No experience with the 70-DR, but did have a FT3 for a very short time. Now I have a FT4XR for my very infrequent UHF needs.

Malen
VE6VID

42

I have and use a 70DR and yes, not the greatest battery life. Have not used it for SOTA, but have been in RF nasty places with it and have had no problems with intermod, in cases where my Kenwood TH-F6 did.

Hope that gives a useful frame of reference

73,
Howard KE6MAK

43

I would agree with what others are saying and add my thoughts:

  1. Stay away from the cheap Chinese radios (Baofeng, Wouxun, etc). These do about as good at rejecting interference as a busted lock does keeping people out of a door.

  2. The regular consumer grade handhelds (Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, etc) do fairly well at this. Like someone else said, with these, operating just off the summit proper may help.

  3. If you really want to reject interference, look for used commercial/public safety radios. (Motorola, Kenwood, Vertex, etc) These are designed to be rugged and operate in high noise environments. The main disadvantage though, is that almost all of these cannot be programmed in the field without a computer. (Which may not be too bad if you preprogram commonly used frequencies in beforehand)

  4. A directional antenna (like a Yagi) would be a good investment. In addition to giving you more gain overall to “pull in” weaker, more distant stations, they will also help in nulling out interference from other directions.

2 Likes