Yes,there is a true HF hand held radio .This is the type which may be used for Royal Flying Doctor Service communication or VKS737 (4WD & Radio Club) or State Emergency Service,etc. I emphasize that I do not refer to the 27Mhz CB hand helds,which technically are also
HF radio(but only have a short range of around 1-3 km at most).
The tiny hand helds I refer to, and often use, are a very special product made for specialty communicatin needs like military covert or stealth operations or bushwalkers in very remote areas who need long distance ultra light HF communications.
I frequently use
mine in remote areas of Australia,like in the Kimberleys or on the
Canning Stock Route in WA. I sometimes leave my my wife in a
camp site base in the bush and go exploring by 4Wd for a day or two.
I am often 50 to 150 km or so away from base,but use these radios to
check into base twice daily and report my position. My radios are set to 5.330 and 6.842 MHZ
These radios are about the size of an average mobile phone and require 8xaa batteries to operate. It is necessary to deploy a long wire dipole antenna which plugs into the top of the radio and the other ends attach to a tree, bush, fence or car,or anything you can attach a piece of wire to.
Communication over hundreds of km is normally achieved. I recently used
mine between
Darwin and Kakadoo,quite q few hundred km,with perfect voice transmission and reception. Power output is about 1 watt,and the batteries last a long time.The radio has capacity for two frequencies between about 4mhz and 7mhz and operates on USB. It is called a Condor,and the model is 8833.
Mine cost around $US1700 in 1997.The radios come in a yellow waterproof shoulder bag,fully self contained with the antenna,and ready to instantly deploy in about 2-3 minutes.
I direct these comments to 'Hardy' who posted a question on the availability of hand held HF radios on 31.8.02(ref archived post No. 1869) and the incorrect reply made to his question by 'Nigel' on 1.9.02 (archived answer ID No.6232).If either of these gentlemen read this,you are welcome to contact me via this
forum. Regards. Roman (
Melbourne,Australia)