[steve86]

No complaints on my Wouxun kg-uv6d 2M ($110), which I carry when I ride my dirt bike in the mountains (lots of repeaters up there). I'm not licensed, nor had an emergency yet so it has not been used to transmit (0.5 second initial test on family band frequency excluded).

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/10060

[JRandomFreeper]

Nothing personal, it's about me.

I prefer American engineering for ham radio.

If you haven't transmitted, and used the radio, you haven't got a characterization history of battery usage, etc...

Gear you haven't broken is gear you haven't tested.

Good to carry any kind of xmit radio in the mountains though. Saved my life, once.

/johnny

[tenger]

KB9IBZ here. Been a ham since 1992. Have only used the license in Mongolia from 92-94. 98% of calls were DX! And the pile ups when the conditions were right were phenomenal. Ticket just expired last month. Unfortunately I really don't know the technical aspects the way I hear people talking about them. I have a Tech+ but I was pretty good at memorizing test questions.

I keep threatening on getting back in. Oh, I did operate last year at a field day in the Virginia Beach area. They gave me the "night shift". Nice of them...