Nostalgia time

In the 1970s most SSB operation on 2m was with the Liner 2. Later, many used the IC-202 from ICOM. This was a better radio with fewer spurii and a better, cleaner TX. Many are still in use to drive microwave transverters. The IC-202 was a lower powered radio, but it could be used handheld.

No synthesisers, lots of wires, no memories, just clean and simple. These were SSB/CW radios with a very good VXO covering 200KHz with each crystal. To most people it seemed like a VFO with smooth, continuous tuning. I also used mine on QRP 10m SSB as well with a homebrew transverter. I have no idea what became of this transverter, but I worked all over the world with 1W SSB and a wire dipole. It used a Plessey SL6440 IC I seem to recall.

I expect they units are still available second hand. They were replaced by the IC-202S and there was a similar radio for 70cm. Once I worked was down in France from a coastal site in Devon using just the IC-202 with its whip antenna.

A quick check on eBay showed one example at just over £200. There are lower cost examples listed as "not working" or "for spares".  Looking on eBay there was also an IC-212 FM version. I don't remember this and wonder if it was ever on sale here in the UK?

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/icom-ic-202 .