Icom 229H
 

Found this cool little Icom 229H today for 5 bucks. 50 watt output with great RX audio. Coverage is from 136 mHz to 173 mHz. I will use it to monitor CalFire Air Attack when fire season starts.

I had an Icom IC-22a back when I was a young ham and loved that radio to death, it was the coolest thing ever.

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotos/Icom.jpg

Score!
that pelican case is worth more than $5

Congrats on a great find. Icom ham equipment doesn't often show up on the used market, because it is built to last.

Icom makes excellent ham gear, built like a tank to survive almost anything. I have an IC-T22A 1.5-watt 2-meter FM handheld (also with expanded-coverage RX) I purchased about seven or eight years ago from an old-time ham in North Carolina. The HT works very well, especially with the local repeater in my area, five miles or so from my apartment. I also have an Icom IC-725 nine-band 100-watt HF rig I used for many years at my previous residence, but I haven't used it here much since I now live in an apartment building and cannot use outdoor antennas.

I presently operate HF using K1RFD's Echolink software, with a PowerSpec Windows computer running Windows XP. My node number is 331660.

73,

Good score for $5, where did you buy it from?

It is from a local thrift store. Thanks for the comments everyone!

Man, one lucky find there, kudos to you!

It's interesting, to me, that a piece of ham radio gear would turn up in a thrift store; most of the time, these only appear at hamfests. There is a danger involved in selling these radios in ordinary thrift stores, in that the radio will be purchased by a non-ham who is not aware that unlicensed operation on the amateur bands is illegal. The problem often is that non-hams mistake a 2-meter rig for a CB radio; since CBs no longer require FCC licenses, and because 2m rigs look so much like CB radios, the chances of something like this happening are good -- almost too good. I'm surprised the FCC doesn't have more trouble than it has with illegal 2-meter operation by kids and others who think a 2m rig is a CB.

I would think, however, that one look at the frequency display of a 2m rig would be the tipoff; as we hams know, 146.94 is not a CB channel, but to an uninformed, nontechnical, unlicensed person whose only experience with radio has been CB, the number could suggest a channel in a new, expanded Citizens Band. The FCC will come knocking at their door (or the person will get a violation notice from them), or they get an Official Observer notice from the ARRL. In the latter case, it is only a warning, but if the FCC comes calling or a citation arrives in the mailbox, the person can and will be in big trouble.