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KA5PIU
09-01-2010, 05:40 PM
Hello.

The talkies of old had it made.
The IC-02AT was an excellent example.
You could charge and power the radio from the top mounted connector, 13.6 volts was just fine.
But you could also power it from the desktop charger.
And if that was not enough, you could select a rechargeable battery with both a charge port on one side and power port on the other.
The cells inside were AA NiCads that I replaced with NiMH, easy since the pack is held together with screws.
The battery packs came in quite a few sizes, from a short job all the way to the unit longer than the radio itself that could power the radio for a few days.
Now we have tiny packs, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But how about some selection?
The bottom of the VX-7r is just about the size of the top of the IC-02 battery.
Another thought is to produce a battery pack that attaches to the belt clip of a modern radio such as the VX-7/8 and makes it the size of a common commercial radio.
Police radios, and thus the holsters, are a given size, and come in a very wide selection, quite a few that look nothing like a radio holster.
With an extended battery pack the talkie would fit nicely.
And the battery life would be in line with that of commercial radios.
I am not asking for something like an IC-02 with a 5 day battery life and 3 hour charge from a drop-in charger but that would be nice.