Sporties SP 200 hand held transeiver bit the dust

[DonMuncy]

I have had this SP200 for 20 years or so, and after I checked its batteries today, it refuses to turn on. It is strictly an emergency back-up. I usually only use it if I'm going to the airport to pick someone up, so I can track them with ATC/tower as they arrive.

What is the consensus about the best (and cheapest) replacement.

[PT20J]

Mine didn't last nearly that long. I replaced it with an iCom which is still going strong except that some of the numbers are wearing off the keypad. I think Yaesu and iCom are the leading contenders.

[Rwsavory]

I upgraded from the SP200 to the Sportys PJ2, now sold as the PJ2+. It has built in headset jacks, which makes it ideal as an emergency backup.

[EricJ]

14 minutes ago, Rwsavory said:

I upgraded from the SP200 to the Sportys PJ2, now sold as the PJ2+. It has built in headset jacks, which makes it ideal as an emergency backup.

That looks like a nice radio, especially for the money!

[201Mooniac]

Since my Boe headsets are panel powered I went with the Sporty's L6 which has the LEMO connector rather than the two plugs.  Otherwise the same radio.  It's been great and I don't have to look for an adapter.

[Ragsf15e]

I’ve got an older Yaesu.  It’s well built and has lasted but the user interface is not intuitive. Actually, I find it barely useable without the manual, which probably isn’t what you want in a backup.

[kris_adams]

I'm still rocking my Icom A16, but I'd probably go for the PJ2+ based on your 2 decades with the other sporty's radio.  Plus I never have liked the UI of the A16.

[Fly Boomer]

12 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

What is the consensus about the best (and cheapest) replacement.

+1 for Yaesu too complicated, and +1 for the Sporty's radio with jacks to accommodate whatever headset plugs you have.

[exM20K]

My Sporty's PJ2 drained the battery pack when stored.  Replacement did the same. So now I store it with the battery pack removed.  I never had an issue with ICOM equipment and would buy one of those instead of the PJ2 if I could do-over.

-dan

[dkkim73]

Funny, I had wondered about getting the new Sporty's with the jacks built-in. This brings up the reliability question which I am now wondering again about.  I have an old Vertex Standard (really Yaesu) VXA-300 Pilot III which has an unintuitive user interface but seems pretty bomber otherwise. Also shares battery systems with the Yaesu FT-60R ham rig...

[dzeleski]

The SP-200 and SP-400 were produced by Japan Radio. The new PJ2 is built by Rexon, which is based on the RHP-530.

I have used a Yaesu FTA-250L for 6 years now and I regularly call clearance with it before Im in the airplane. I keep the jack adapter plugged into it, and it cant fall out because it gets screwed in.

Edited July 17, 2024 by dzeleski

[dzeleski]

14 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

I have had this SP200 for 20 years or so, and after I checked its batteries today, it refuses to turn on. It is strictly an emergency back-up. I usually only use it if I'm going to the airport to pick someone up, so I can track them with ATC/tower as they arrive.

What is the consensus about the best (and cheapest) replacement.

Maybe give Japan Radio an email and see if they still service them: https://www.jrc.co.jp/en/contact/marine#anc01

 

[exM20K]

33 minutes ago, dkkim73 said:

Funny, I had wondered about getting the new Sporty's with the jacks built-in. This brings up the reliability question which I am now wondering again about.  I have an old Vertex Standard (really Yaesu) VXA-300 Pilot III which has an unintuitive user interface but seems pretty bomber otherwise. Also shares battery systems with the Yaesu FT-60R ham rig...

Without an exterior antenna connection, I think you'll find the handheld mostly useless in flight other than maybe picking up a clearance before engine start.

I did have an antenna lead for the handheld in my 231, and it worked pretty well within class D range IIRC.

-dan

[dkkim73]

22 hours ago, exM20K said:

Without an exterior antenna connection, I think you'll find the handheld mostly useless in flight other than maybe picking up a clearance before engine start.

Thanks. I had a similar thought. Asked about adding a connection to one of the main masts, but Jeff at Mooney thought it would be a trade-off of signal quality for the affected onboard COMM. Maybe he was talking about a splitter rather than a switch-over. In any case I didn't think the juice was worth the squeeze. 

Bought years ago as in-flight backup but agree mainly useful for on the ground stuff. I recently started carrying it again when I saw a twin Beech taxi out at a field I was visiting with something hanging from the bottom. I had to run to the ship and wait for the G1000 to fire up to call him. Realized it would be nice to have more comms on the ground in general. 

I wonder what the appropriate callsign is for a handheld aviation rig. "Mooney Nxxxx mobile"? "Mooney Nxxxx remote"? "Mooney Nxxxx"? 

[Pinecone]

On 7/17/2024 at 1:42 PM, exM20K said:

Without an exterior antenna connection, I think you'll find the handheld mostly useless in flight other than maybe picking up a clearance before engine start.

I haven't tried my aviation hand held, but a number of years ago was able to do Ham band 2M simplex (handheld to handheld) over 70 nm from 3000 feet.  Other station was ground level.

[Fly Boomer]

23 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

I haven't tried my aviation hand held, but a number of years ago was able to do Ham band 2M simplex (handheld to handheld) over 70 nm from 3000 feet.  Other station was ground level.

Do the systems still exist that allowed a telephone relay from a ham band?

[EricJ]

6 hours ago, dkkim73 said:

Thanks. I had a similar thought. Asked about adding a connection to one of the main masts, but Jeff at Mooney thought it would be a trade-off of signal quality for the affected onboard COMM. Maybe he was talking about a splitter rather than a switch-over. In any case I didn't think the juice was worth the squeeze. 

Bendix King used to make a handheld KX99 radio that they made a cable for with a pin jack that would plug into an adapter switch.   When you plugged the handheld in, it switched the antenna to the handheld.    I have one of these in my airplane and made a cable with a BNC connected on one end and pin jack on the other to plug into it.   I've never used it, and I'm not sure I'd trust it since it's fairly ancient.   Since it is mounted, and marked, on the bottom of my panel I can also just reach back and grab the antenna cable and connect it or an extension to the handheld.    Anyway, I just mention it because such a switch does exist, but they're hard to find and they're all old.

[exM20K]

Sporty’s posted this a couple of days ago…

https://www.sportys.com/blog/whats-range-portable-aviation-radios/

The article includes a link to this switch

Maybe they will have a smoking deal on these at OSH

-dan

 

 

[EricJ]

11 minutes ago, exM20K said:

Sporty’s posted this a couple of days ago…

https://www.sportys.com/blog/whats-range-portable-aviation-radios/

The article includes a link to this switch

It's nice that somebody is making these, but it looks like it takes up a ton more panel space than needed.     The KX99 took up a tiny amout of panel space.

[exM20K]

1 minute ago, EricJ said:

It's nice that somebody is making these, but it looks like it takes up a ton more panel space than needed.     The KX99 took up a tiny amout of panel space.

Agree.  I think that's what I had in my 231.

-dan

[Pinecone]

On 7/18/2024 at 4:11 PM, Fly Boomer said:

Do the systems still exist that allowed a telephone relay from a ham band?

Yes.

Not used much these days, but still some hams around with equipment.

[Fly Boomer]

47 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

Yes.

Not used much these days, but still some hams around with equipment.

Seems like a pretty good solution for making calls while in the air?

[Pinecone]

I am sure that people have phone patches, because ham don't throw things out.

I would be surprised if many repeaters have that capability as cell phones have taken over.  Remembering that a radio to phone could be heard by anyone listing on that repeater.