used HF rig shopping

[Gunpowder]

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

 

[StatHaldol]

You've sure done a lot of homework! We've got two Icom 706MKIIG's and both have been through a lot of use and abuse. One is our base station rig and the other is mounted in a box for portable/mobile use.

A couple of local hams have Icom 718's. They have been thoroughly pleased with their 718. You may want to check out the reviews on eham.net.

Let us know what you decide to buy!

73
Mike

KE5FYR

 

[Gunpowder]

Picked up a Kenwood TS-440S/AT today. It came with the CW filter and SSB filter installed. It was on QRZ but was local pick up for $450 too.