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Help with first HF rig
- Thread starter Bearcat
- Start date
Icom 746, kenwood ts480hx used. New, Icom 7200 or Icom 718, Yaseu FT450, Alinco SR8T or SR9T. All of these should be close to the price range. Some may be more. The Icom 7200 is a good starter radio and can be had for about $600. They have a $200 instant savings at AES. Look here for more radios as well. The 2 Alinco radios or the Icom 718 are all within your price range. Check out different places before you just order from one place as they may have them cheaper elsewhere. If you look around you might find a kenwood radio that fits your bill as well. Just make sure that if you plan on using it on 11m that you have the Mars/cap mod done to open the transmit when you order the radio as to not void the warranty. This is only if you plan to use it on 11m that is. Again, look around before you buy. And research the radio! JMHO.
Maybe on AM some do, but for SSB there isn't an export that will contend with a real HF radio. Even the kenwood ts480hx will do 200+ watts on AM and they don't sound bad. And like I said, on SSB they are the shizz. That is what most HF radios are designed for is SSB. Read up some more on HF radios and how to set them up and then they don't sound so crappy on AM either. My Icom 746 sounds just fine on AM as long as I don't crank the power wide open and the mic gain and so forth. Most of the time user error plays a big part in how people sound, even on expensive radios!!!
FT450D, 630 brand new after 100 buck rebate. Built in IF DSP and filters.
FM and repeater offsets. TCXO, 60 meter ready. 6 meter.
List goes on.
Rich
FM and repeater offsets. TCXO, 60 meter ready. 6 meter.
List goes on.
Rich
As a noob on HF myself let me throw in a vote for the 718- It's a very capable radio, very easy to operate and even in stock form has quite a good receiver once you learn how to use it. Does it need filters? Yes. But even without it is a great little unit.
HF rigs don't sound good on AM, period. They aren't designed for it.
HF rigs don't sound good on AM, period. They aren't designed for it.
I've heard the kenwood ts480hx doesn't sound bad on AM. And also what is your definition of BAD?? Like I said, if the mic gain, compression, and power are set right, you can make an HF radio sound fine on AM. Or at least the ones I've heard have. Like I said before user error causes a lot of issue. But like Atlasta states they were realy built for SSB use majority of the time. As you will find that on most bands either LSB, or USB are the preferred modes of operation. 11 meters is obviously a bit different as its main mode of operation is AM, having 35 more dedicated or most used channels on AM and 5 channels for SSB. One being channel 16 which is an old SSB channel and doesn't get used much by very many from what I have experienced. Like said, don't expect to light the world on fire with one. They just aren't designed for that, AM mode that is.
Most newer transistorized HF transceivers do not sound good on AM. A very few do, but also realize that when an HF transceivers is rated at 100 watts overall max power, that translates into 30-50 watts max PEP on AM with a 5-10 watt carrier max for it to sound clean. Anything more an that, the built in ALC (automatic limiting circuit) in the HF rigs kicks in and folds the power back to preserve the amp in the radio. This feature kills the swing/ modulation needed for loud sounding AM audio.
I've heard 718s sound good on AM but that was with a lot of tweaking by the owner. My Yaesu 1000MP is a great AM modulator at 5-10 watts DK, swinging 45-50 PEP. It has two Toshiba 2sc2879 transistors in the amp section right from the factory. These radios will set you back a grand though.
My first HF rig was a Yaesu FT897D I got off a guy from Craigs list. The secondary VFO knob was snapped off so I got it with the built in power supply and LDG auto tuner for $500. Ordered up the new VFO potentiometer directly from Yaesu for $15, soldered it in and I was on the air. The FT 857D is a nice rig as well with the same main PC board.
**You will need a decent 120 VAC to 13.8 VDC 20+ amp power supply for any 100 watt HF rig that doesn't have one built in. 30+ amps would be better. I go by the 20 amps per 2sc2879 device ratio when selecting power supplies.
So keep your eye on the local Craigs list, you never know, you might find a similar dealeo.
I'm not sure where you're getting this info from, but that hasn't necessarily been my experience. Yes, there are 100 watt rigs that won't produce 100 watt PEP - if I remember correctly, the 746 Pro I owned was like that. However, there are plenty of rigs that do produce full output on AM. For AM, the general rule of thumb is that the carrier should be set to 1/4 the rig's PEP for proper modulation.
Anyway, back to the original question, for $500 I'd probably look for a used rig - see if you can find a deal on an Icom 706mkiig
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
the 706 has been out of production more than 9 years now....the IC-706 MKII G was the last run...all other versions are even older...
Not really a bad little rig, but some want WAY to much on used market for a rig 10-15 years old and most likely run mobile at some point MHO
All the Best
Gary
PS: Some parts are no longer available from factory...you already see posts asking for "Parts Rigs"...because factory NO longer works on these or supports them...$0.02 worth