Sunday, June 22, 2014 — One of the newer hams in my area gave me a laugh recently when he told me, “I never knew ham radio was such an addictive hobby.”
He went on to explain that he first bought an HT for his first radio (one of those Chinese import cheapies). Then he wanted to upgrade to better one, which he did. Then he bought a mobile. Then he bought a second mobile for his house, plus necessary feedline and antenna. More recently he bought a Yaesu FT-817 QRP HF rig, and now he wants to get an 100 watt HF rig.
“Addictive — and expensive,” he added.
I have forgotten just how much ham gear I’ve bought and sold over the years. I was reminded of this today when I dug up an aluminum attache case I filled with handheld 2 meter gear several years ago. My recollection was that I had three or four ADI AT-201 HTs (and its variants), with battery packs, dry-cell packs and alkaline batteries. What I found was much more!
I have 3 ADI AT-201s and accessories, just as I remembered. But what I didn’t remember were the two Yaesu VX-150s and the Yaesu VX-170, complete with battery packs, charger and speaker mics. The VX-150 is my favorite HT; its as durable as a commercial HT and very dependable. The battery packs are plentiful and cheap, and compatible with a wide range of Vertex HTs. For a time I watched for them on eBay, and in addition to the ones I found in the case, I have four others. Think I need another HT?? LOL!
Actually, I have many other handhelds (they seem to follow me home from hamfests). In the way of Yaesu handhelds, I also have one VX-1R, two VX-2Rs, one VX-3R and one VX-5R I bought simply because the Buy It Now price was $125. I also have an Alinco HT in the shack my wife won at a hamfest.
One of the best HTs I’ve ever owned is the Yaesu FT-11R — well, it was my favorite before the VX-150. I have a pair of them and a dual drop-in charger, speaker mics and a mobile 
charger. I had the whole mess for sale on eBay a couple of years ago, but it didn’t sell. I unboxed them this weekend and have them on my computer desk, charged. I’m thinking of putting them into more use … for some reason I always thought they didn’t have PL tone decode feature — which was what my memory recalls was the reason to move to the VX-150. Not so! (CORRECTION: The FT-11R has the encode feature, but it only has the decode feature if you also have the optional FTS-26 tone decode board. Wish I could find a couple of these babies, but not very likely with a 10-year-old handheld.)
I probably just need to take a group of these HTs to the next radio club meeting and do an auction/fundraiser, or simply have them ready to give to new hams, especially younger ones. HTs are so cheap nowadays they’re darn near disposable.
I could probably dispose of all of them and never miss them; but sure enough if I do, I’ll need a couple of them. I think I’m going to go ahead and dispose of the ADI handhelds and accessories, and probably the FT-11Rs. If I want to keep HTs handy for emergency use, I have the VX-150s and the VX-170 I can leave in the carrying case. I could easily add a fourth, and then some extra battery packs and some AA battery cases.
We haven’t had a major power outage for years and you fall out of the habit of having HTs “at the ready.” It doesn’t take much to be prepared, I need to change a couple of things in my attache case, but it is probably worth the effort — in hopes it is never necessary.
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