Bill - K6WLM wrote
A VHF receiver with a broad front-end opens the door to inter-mod from Paging transmitters and other local VHF services.
Yes I hear what your saying about the inter-mod. At one point I had one of the micro Yaesu VX-1R dual-band HT's and using UHF was useless (without PL decode) here in the metro area on the rubber duck.... inter-mod just killed it, VHF was Ok. On the other hand, my FT-817ND is connected to a outside dual-band J-Pole and I hear no inter-mod on V/Uhf at all, must be in the design. Like the upcoming KX3, the 817 was designed for portable use yet it's VHF receive (108-154) stops short of the NWS 162.xxxmhz range. I personally would like to have the NWS receive capability on my grab-and-go portable.
And yes, I could go with a portable scanner, but I just thought I'd throw out the suggestion to widen the 144 receiver and let the design team determine if it's doable or not. Either way I am going to buy a KX3 and I can always carry my 5w HT which does receive NWS (and is not effected by inter-mod), but I'd just rather have it all-in-one like my 817 is (I don't use UHF much).
tnx
de George
WD0AKZ