HF Radio Feedback

Hi Craig M. This is where I show my novice. I assume the barrett 250 has sellcall / tellcall or has the capacity to have it installed. We would like to be able to phone home just in case. If it doesn't come with it and has the capacity how much would it be to install? The bit I'm not sure about is do you get the 5 channels listed by VSK737 when you sign up with them, do you need all of them and if you do and not have them, can they be added and how much? I have seen a lot of units for sale which say they have 2 VSK737 channels installed, others say lost of channels installed. This is my novice bit again. Are other channels needed? Finally ebay has a few that are around $700 and above, yet new ones are $3K to $4K. Is it buyer beware...but beware of what?

Do a search in the forums for barrett HF250 or Codan HF and spend some time having a read. I have both flavours and both have their pros and cons. It is a bit like the old Cruiser vs Patrol argument. Different people have their favourites.

HF is a bit more challenging than UHF to use. For a start you need to be licensed. VKS737 is a good place to organise this and a great bunch of people to have on your side when the wheels fall off. Then you need to carefully consider the installation location. Older HF's are the size of a tea tray and can pull 10 amps out of your battery when transmitting. Also, you need a spot to mount an antenna as well. It is much larger than the old UHF.
All that being organised, I can talk to Darwin and Adeliade from Townsville most days. It works where phones don't however I have never used the RADPHONE function. As far as channels go the early CODANs needed a PC to reprogram the EPROM to add channels however the barrett can have extra channels programmed via the front panel. Be careful buying a barrett 250 from WA via Ebay. Some of the are ex WA police and have had a board/chip removed from them prior to sale.
Have a read and see how you go. There are many helpful people on this forum who will help you out.

Craig