Gunpowder
Cigar Search & destroy V 1.20
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2003
- Messages
- 1,401
For those of you experienced operators, I have been researching the various forums for radios that might be in my budget. Due to the usual (cancer, kids, bills, etc.) I thought I should keep the budget for my first HF rig small to get me going. Seems $300-$550 would get me a decent starter rig. I have the following in my range:
KENWOOD
TS 850 $650
TS-690
ts-570d(G)
TS-570D
TS-450SAT
TS-440SAT
TS 430S
TS-140
TS-120S $350
Comments of WWW:
-TS-440 had that kenwood solder issue like all in mid 80's-90. including the 940's
-A lot of hams dislike the TS-430s because of it's reputation of dry joints, bad via's etc..
-TS-140 needs tuner/ has those infernal "slider" pots, that regardless of use or disuse, collect dust and can
become intermittent with age.. Exercise the sliders several times to make sure they are actually making proper contact.
TS-120S do rf input mod. Recommend upgrading to ts-130 s/se
Yaesu
FT-897
FT-726R
FT-840
Comments: Not much feedback on Yaesy probably due to the populararity of kenwood in the 80's & 90's
ICOM
IC-745
IC-735
IC-730
IC-718
Comments: 745 has volital ram but a new aftermarket board is avail.
Ten Tec
Scout
Comments: Scout is a bare minimum mobile modular rig. Didn't find any other models in my price range but ten tec at least still services all their models while all the others don't support their older machines.
Any comments or suggestions on these or other rigs?
Thanks
Mike
KB9MDQ/AG
KENWOOD
TS 850 $650
TS-690
ts-570d(G)
TS-570D
TS-450SAT
TS-440SAT
TS 430S
TS-140
TS-120S $350
Comments of WWW:
-TS-440 had that kenwood solder issue like all in mid 80's-90. including the 940's
-A lot of hams dislike the TS-430s because of it's reputation of dry joints, bad via's etc..
-TS-140 needs tuner/ has those infernal "slider" pots, that regardless of use or disuse, collect dust and can
become intermittent with age.. Exercise the sliders several times to make sure they are actually making proper contact.
TS-120S do rf input mod. Recommend upgrading to ts-130 s/se
Yaesu
FT-897
FT-726R
FT-840
Comments: Not much feedback on Yaesy probably due to the populararity of kenwood in the 80's & 90's
ICOM
IC-745
IC-735
IC-730
IC-718
Comments: 745 has volital ram but a new aftermarket board is avail.
Ten Tec
Scout
Comments: Scout is a bare minimum mobile modular rig. Didn't find any other models in my price range but ten tec at least still services all their models while all the others don't support their older machines.
Any comments or suggestions on these or other rigs?
Thanks
Mike
KB9MDQ/AG