I own both a 91 and a 92. I bought the 92 first based mostly on the (correct) information I received when I asked the same question you did. John Hay's post is right on as far as the differences go (he's probably the one who answered my question several months ago). He gives you everything you're gonna care about.
I purchased my 91 at Dayton this year after playing with the 80 because I wanted to be able to talk to myself. (For testing! Honest, get that white jacket away from me!) As far as the 91 vs the 80, no comparison. 91 all the way. The 80, in my opinion, is a cost reduced 91 with fewer features at a higher price. I have no doubt the current price reductions on the 91 are to clear it out so it's no longer competing with the 80. The volume knob on the 91 is annoying only until you realize you can program the radio to lock it with the keypad. Then it will will not change volume with knob rotation unless you power cycle the radio (it reads the knob location at boot and sets the volume there if it was locked when you turn it on). Most of the time, I carry my 91. Here's why. -It's smaller. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I'm used to small HTs. The 92 is a large HT. The 91 is "almost" a large HT. That "almost" made quit a bit of difference to me. It's also worth noting that the 80 is physically identical to the 91. Same outer shell, same batteries and same drop-in charger. -Data Cable. I'm playing with D-Rats. It's a lot easier on the 91. I can make as many cables as I need for $5 at radio shack. I don't have to spend $80 for every cable. -Icom HM-153 mic/earbud combo. That is my preferred style of headset/speaker mic when I'm hamfesting or doing non-public service activities. I did buy the adapter for the IC-92 so I could use it there as well, but it's just another thing I have to carry in my bag. -Heil Traveler. Noisy public service events, nothing better. You can use it with the same $60 adapter as the HM-153 to make it work on the 92. -General audio quality. Both Rx and Tx is better on my 91. Both radios need an external speaker. I'm not sure how they made such a crappy internal speaker, but they managed to do it twice. Problems with the 91. Hams are always supposed to use the lowest power possible for reliable communications. No one I know does. Almost every ham I've ever known, myself included, think that their radio has 1 power setting: High. A few of my radios have a second optional "Binford" setting (amplifier). D-Star is the first mode I've ever used VHF+ that I've actually looked into using the minimum power required. Reducing your power WORKS. Unlike analog FM, you get 0 signal degradation by reducing your power on D-Star up until you fall off the cliff. I've programmed my local repeater memories to all start at Low power on D-Star. Anywhere I usually am, that's all I need. Obviously this is specific to my situation, yours may be different. This is the 1 place the 91 falls a bit short. It only has pea-shooter and full. I have found often times pea-shooter is enough though. GPS on D-star would be great for public service events if everyone used it. We have a hard enough time getting our volunteers to use PL, let alone something as radical as UHF. D-Star? Maybe in 10-15 years. It will be awesome and useful, but unless you can deploy it to everyone it's power is lost. D-PRS is _not_ a replacement for APRS. You will probably be chastised by your local repeater owner if you try to use it as such. Right now, the all-in-one gps speaker mic is an incredibly expensive toy. Unless your local ARES or served agency has purchased a box of 92's/80's with GPS mics I'd say the 91's GPS shortcomings just aren't that big of a deal. You don't know your battery died. The 91 is kind of like my dog. It just goes and goes and then all of a sudden it collapses from exhaustion with no warning. Have a spare LiIon pack for any long-operations. The AA pack is useless (on both 91 and 92). This is one of my biggest complaints. There are some signal quality issues on the 91. If you look at some spectrum plots, the 91 isn't that great of a GMSK encoder. It doesn't seem to matter in practice though. It appears to be good enough. The 91 gets hot when transmitting 5W. I'm not talking "Oh, look that's a bit warm." I'm talking about 5 more and you would be saying "OMG it burned a hole through my pocket fell out onto the ground and reflowed the asphalt." The 92 is a little bit better, but not significantly. Low power is your friend with these. Thanks for reading my rant, I hope it helped you. -Mike Ben Ramler wrote: > > > Morning Group, > > let me clarify what I am after......What I am looking for is a Dual > rx radio. Thank you also for clarifying what YMMV stands for. I was > trying to figure out what that stood for so I asked. > > again thank you all very much for the input I really appreciate it. > > 73, > > Ben -- Michael A. Waldron, AE0MW http://www.mikew.org PGP: http://www.mikew.org/mypgpkey.txt
