As the title tells, EDC stands for Every Day Carry. Lots of folks have different EDC items, from radios to firearms. Since this is a ham radio blog, I’ll stick to radios. Haha!
Here is my EDC radio. It is a Yaesu FT-4X dual band HT. When I ordered it, this was the least expensive Yaesu HT I could find. Of course, the Baofengs were all the rage as well, but this was reviewed by a couple of folks as being Yaesu’s answer to the Baofeng. As I’ve always owned Yaesu HT’s, I thought what the heck, why not give a try.
Without hesitation, I’ll tell you this is a sturdy little radio. It has been “deck checked” accidentally a few times and survived just fine.
The rubber duck antennas that come with HT’s are usually garbage, rightfully earning the name “rubber dummy load”. But I gotta say, the antenna that comes with this radio is pretty darned good! It works better than some of the after-market ones I’ve purchased.
All I want from an EDC radio is 2m and 70cm, good battery life, and ruggedness. This radio checks all three boxes for me. The audio is excellent based on reports from QSO’s both through repeaters and simplex.
How about you? What’s your EDC radio? Why did you choose that one? Tweet me your answer to @n8vox