I don't think anyone has mentioned the ONE VALID use for an "open" radio and
that is MARS system service. It still exists and with the advent of radios
that can transmit almost anywhere without modifying the RF circuitry, MARS ops
have moved further and further away from the freqs that are closest to the ham
bands.
At any rate, wasn't sure if MARS had been forgotten :)
Mike AB7ZU
Kuhi no ka lima, hele no ka maka
On Oct 1, 2012, at 17:01, "Tom W8JI" <w8ji@w8ji.com> wrote:
>> A fellow ham once was on a trip from Spain to the Caribbean on a sailing
>> boat. For comms with me and some friends he was using a FT-900, and as a
>> backup rig he could have used the onboard Icom marine radio, in case his
>> Yaesu failed. He is not a techie, so i think modifying the Icom was rather
>> easy. Why should it be any harder than 'opening up' ham gear , e.g. cut out
>> diodes?
>
> Because commercial gear requires a different certification process that is
> supposed to prevent easy modification for use outside of type certification,
> and because Ham transceivers do not require that unless they operate on 27
> MHz.
>
> If they were built to the letter of the law the simple programming change
> would not be available.
>
> Of course this would not stop Ham gear from being converted to marine.
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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