A Return to the Air?

While digging around in one of the closets a few days ago I discovered something that I don't even remember buying.  It was a Kenwood TH-215A handheld 2 meter ham transceiver with scanning capability up to and including the NOAA weather band.  The price tag attached to it was $25, and I'm thinking, I must have picked this up at a ham radio flea market in the late summer or fall of 1998.  What is amazing is that this has moved with me with me forgetting that I ever bought the thing.

I went online to see if I could access the owner's manual for this.  It would be relatively easy for me to commission this thing if I can find the right adapter, which might be had at Radio Shack (if I can get there before they close) or at Best Buy.

Thing of it is, is that I already have a 2 meter handheld.  That one is made by Yaesu, and I bought that in 1986 for about $300.  It's not that I needed another handheld when I bought the Kenwood, but for $25 you can't go wrong.  Operation in the 2 meter band is largely by use of repeaters which will get you good local coverage, and possibly beyond that if a Tucson repeater or two are linked to repeaters in Phoenix (I'll have to check that out).

Anyway, I'm thinking I need get the base charger commissioned, and set up a little "base" station in my garage.  There are a few other accessories I need to locate for the Yaesu, and I've got to learn some more about the local repeaters.  But this exercise will be of one benefit for me........it's an excuse to get active again in a ham radio club.

I was last active in the Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club, having become a member in 1996.  I was a speaker at one of their meetings too, giving a talk on communications satellites and explaining the issues and challenges that we engineers encounter in making them work.  The club had an open repeater, and being a paid member gave me phone patch privileges on that repeater.  I wouldn't have much use for a phone patch since I use a cellphone now, but what if I'm out on a hunting trip where I can't get a cell signal?  A 2 meter handheld would allow me to hit a repeater, and if I have phone patch privileges I can call Sheila, or I can ask another ham to call her and relay a message in case I need help.

I'm not as experienced on the 2 meter band as I am on the HF (high frequency) bands, but there are some fun things I could do.  I could chat with some fellow hams, meet up with weekly on the air "net" meetings, and establish a peer network and get some help getting other antennas on the roof (I know "antennae" would be proper English, but in ham English it's "antennas".)

What I hope to do in the next few days is to locate the remote microphone and the whip antenna for my Yaesu.  Also the instruction manual.  And I need to do a lot of listening to get a sense for the local club scene, even if I have identified a local ham club that I'm interested in joining.

After that, I plan to go online and locate accessories for the Kenwood that I forgot that  owned.  I'd love to get that one going.

I really want to get back into the HF bands, and into six meters, but for right now I think it will be 2 meters.  I want do learn more about what I can do with this.