Transceiver
 

Anyone out there know where I can get a good Transceiver? My cousin has a really good one from the 80's which is probly illegal now but it works amazing. I can sometimes pick up planes up to 100 miles away (something like that its amazing). Anyone know where I can find a good one? I think the fcc put a limit on the power of the new ones after 9/11.

zayghami

Don't really have a good answer to your question, except to ask if you have checked eBay, they have transcievers on there. Maybe you could get lucky on one...

The Vertex 700 was amazing. I loved it until someone stole it.

The receive range is not related to power output, it is a function of signal strength (from the airplane), antenna type, and signal processor design.

Airliners routinely call their destination station 80-100 miles out, so I think that's a reasonable range for any modern receiver.

If you want to respond to an airplane that far out, you would probably need more transmit horsepower than a handheld. Stations use a plug-in base station radio with a large antenna on the roof.

how good was the range on it?

I have an icom myself, only thing I hate with it is the stupid stoneage battery that has to be charged for so so long or it starts dying and **** like that.
Other than that it works a charm, can plug a headset into it and everything

Squelch Design
 

rickair:

It could also be a function of squelch-design. If the squelch level is set hign in a modern radio to keep out extraneous noise, it would make it seem like it couldn't pick-up weak signals, and if the radio he is quoting has low-squelch, it would seem to have powerful reception--but more noise.

Otherwise, I agree with all, especially the size/location of the antenna.