Transmission1

It's more the oil runny out thing, plus everything else that's made from oil.

Anyway, don't want to go all political on a forum for enjoying all things radio. Just wanted to explain my purchase reticence.

The thread that wouldn't die

I suppose handheld expense has been pretty much beaten to death

scanhermit wrote: 25 Apr 2026, 19:39 That Albrecht is discontinued, I believe, so I guess secondhand sales only.

I've thought of a small rig like the Moonraker Titan2 for mobile operation with a separate power source than the car battery. Given the uncertain times though I'm nervy about spending money at the moment. I get tempted then chicken out

The albrecht dose turn up from time to time and at a price that would be coincided expensive.

Hopefully in the near future something new and portable and affordable turns up.
Good luck with your experiments

lambrettadave wrote: 26 Apr 2026, 18:09

scanhermit wrote: 25 Apr 2026, 19:39 That Albrecht is discontinued, I believe, so I guess secondhand sales only.

I've thought of a small rig like the Moonraker Titan2 for mobile operation with a separate power source than the car battery. Given the uncertain times though I'm nervy about spending money at the moment. I get tempted then chicken out

The albrecht dose turn up from time to time and at a price that would be coincided expensive.

Hopefully in the near future something new and portable and affordable turns up.
Good luck with your experiments

Many thanks. I've ordered a NanoVNA so once I've learned how it works the experimentation will be most likely with antenna building. I doubt I'll build the magic antenna that somehow overturns 100 years of knowledge but I do need a bit of creative thinking, given my QTH.

If I take the plunge on a SSB rig it'll be most likely an Ares 2 - good audio quality, not too dear. I do fancy something like the PNI 6500 for the car. Again, decent audio for the money and can be hidden in the glove box when not being used.

I got my ares from China for £130 including shipping.
I actually like the looks of the 3900 better but the ares is a good radio.
There's plenty of compact ssb rigs about like the albrecht ae485, president McKinley, alinco dx10/dr135 and now the Albrecht 5900. Unfortunately neither is cheap.

Thanks for the suggestions Dave. All worthy of consideration if I feel more financially sound/just say "sod it".

I hit the sod it button all the time

I bought a NanoVNA and after learning basic SWR via YouTube I tried out my TX antennas. Very unscientific - I provided ground by gripping the bottom of the antenna and holding my hand against my thigh (test performed seated).

* Stock antenna - 1:1.75 around the middle of the EU channels
* Abree rubber duck - 1:1.5 at around 27.58mhz
* 1.3m telescopic - 1:1.03 at 27.7mhz

Of course, not a true test because not on the handheld but I think the differences are interesting.

You can get bnc magmounts that a bnc twig would fit straight onto which might give better /worse swr.

Now there's an idea! I've always been curious to see how well one would perform on the car roof, though I suppose what you mean is that the magmount on something metal and HT shaped will give a more reliable reading. It's worth a try.

I remembered that I'd bought a tactical antenna from Thunderpole, advertised as being for 27mhz. Strangely, it says 138-520mhz at the base. It's performance is inferior to the stock rubber duck. Thanks to the NanoVNA, I now know why. I swept from 138-520mhz and the SWR at 27mhz is in multiples of ten. It is lowest at 278mhz (3.5) and 467mhz (4.6). I wonder if there is a decimal point error in the manufacturer's documentation.

Edit: I tested on 11m before testing 138-520mhz.

I did think about buying one of those tactical antenna but decided not to bother due to owning loads of others for different sets

As far as I can tell it's a scanner antenna. God knows what it was doing being advertised as a 27mhz antenna. I might have got a stray mistake by the factory e.g. general scanning twig accidentally packaged as 27mhz but I'm not spending another £20 to find out.