Redifon GR479

[Deccapye]

Hi -- I'd like to get into ham radio and have a chance of buying a Redifon GR479. Would this be a suitable transceiver for this purpose?

[ex seismic]

Not a good choice I have to say, especially for a beginner, unless you really, really,want to use this set.
It is not particularly compact or portable and is made up of lots of bits, are you sure you will get all of them?
More to the point is that as a Foundation Licence holder you will be limited to 10 watts and this set appears to be 100 watts, so you cannot legally use it for transmitting.
It only covers two amateur HF voice bands and although a quick google did not come up with a full spec, given it's military origins it is highly probable that it is USB whereas amateur use in the two bands is LSB so you won't be able to actually communicate with anyone except another ex-mil set who is also going against band convention.
It does do AM however, which is still in use but very limited.
Get your full licence, a three stage process, and another band becomes available to you, this time using USB and your power limit will also allow you to use it.

Gordon
G7KNS

[Radio Wrangler]

Count me in with Gordon!

It's tuned with a switch bank, so you can't tune across an amateur band looking for opportunities. It doesn't tune in fine enough steps either. It's intended for channelised military comms.

It's old and has an early form of frequency synthesiser which can take a bit of experienced TLC to get going when it throws a wobbly.

It's USB only and only goes to about 12MHz... but amateurs use LSB below 10MHz, and USB above 10MHz... the 10MHz band is supposed to be CW only, so all the bands with USB in use are 14MHz and above. So you'd be tied to morse and AM with this set.

Some people like and collect military 'Green' radios, but that's their hobby and they enjoy the limitations.

It's not allowed under the foundation licence (power) and you'd find it very frustrating, anyway.

I suggest avoiding it.

David