RT524

[rdh778]

I bought a working 524. I have not hooked it up yet. This may be a dumb question but does it function the same way a Hamm radio does and do I need a Hamm radio license to operate it?
Thanks,
Bob

[GPW43]

Bob
Yes if you mean: You power it up using 25+ V and needing a matching antenna ... (*Ham operations question) and YES you need a ham License to operate it (6m , basically a single channel radio is what you have); The 150hz Tons squelch is different than civilian squelch thus use it without squelch ON first.

Correct Antenna base: MX-6707 antenna base with appropriate two elements set on the right range on the bottom is the correct process to get it right -Provided you have the license and correct amount of power to run it. At high power it will draw some amps and it isn't efficient - Transmitter output power per the manual is 8W on low and on high is about 35W. I have seen it vary greatly on both side of the fence though and unit isn't efficient , even at listening only mode it will draw like 3A to 3.5A, thus be mindful of power source.

It is also heavy to move around in a vehicle so plan on having support towels or something to lay it on its side or bottom etc.

GP

[Bangle 99]

Speaking of towels, put some on top while it’s running so when you put your bags of ice on top of it to keep it cool, the water won’t run all over the place.



James Teel
Retired Police Sergeant/Bomb Tech
SFC OKARNG
Edmond, Oklahoma
MVPA 30889
'43 Willys MB/ITM jeep
‘42 SS Cars lightweight trailer
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[Kurt Lesser]

Zee is correct that you will need an amateur radio license to TRANSMIT but you do not need a license of any kind to merely receive with the VRC-12 series radios. A couple of other things you should be aware of is these are wide band radios and even though they will talk on the same frequencies you won't get clear communications with the narrow bandwidth radios sold for amateur radio use. Secondly, the military uses a 150Hz tone squelch and it's not compatible with amateur CTSS tones so you will not break the squelch on them.

Here in the US before we went to digital TV you used to be able to check your receiver by listening to local television stations but that's now a thing of the past. There used to be taxi services, wreckers, and police in the 30-75Mhz range but most of that is also gone. We do still have some Highway Patrol frequencies here in California in that range so you might want to check in your local area.