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Looking for a HF rig under 350$
- Thread starter bigred222
- Start date
HF Rig under $350
I find that for under the price you are willing to spend, there are a lot of good hybrids out there. If you feel like learning a little bit, you can find a good old tube rig that will put out at least +100w and give you a sound on SSB that no solid state rig can. I have a Icom 718 all solid state and a Swan 270 all tubes and people tell me the Swan sounds much better on SSB. Yeah it can be a little drifty but let it warm up for at least 30 min and it's pretty stable. I paid $150 for the Swan and $600 for the Icom. The biggest drawback for the tube stuff is that they don't usually have digital read out on the frequency, they are all analog. I stuck a $10 flee market freq counter on top of the Swan and good to go!
I find that for under the price you are willing to spend, there are a lot of good hybrids out there. If you feel like learning a little bit, you can find a good old tube rig that will put out at least +100w and give you a sound on SSB that no solid state rig can. I have a Icom 718 all solid state and a Swan 270 all tubes and people tell me the Swan sounds much better on SSB. Yeah it can be a little drifty but let it warm up for at least 30 min and it's pretty stable. I paid $150 for the Swan and $600 for the Icom. The biggest drawback for the tube stuff is that they don't usually have digital read out on the frequency, they are all analog. I stuck a $10 flee market freq counter on top of the Swan and good to go!
What ever you do dont get in a hurry and settle for a rig thats not quality. and
make sure to buy in person . If i buy a used radio i always open it up to make sure it hasnt been butchered . ( only if it has signs of having been opened before )
ps try reading the reviews on the radios on eham it will enlighten you
DOC COOPER
SOC NSW
USN Retired
In addition to the ones mentioned. I've seen Yaesu FT-840's near that price range as well. It's solid state and a good starter rig. The ones I have heard sound pretty good on SSB using a Yaesu MD100 microphone. If you want to go with a hybrid, my second choice is the Kenwood TS-830S, it has better and cheaper final tubes than the Yaesu 101's (no sweep tubes). FT-102s are nice as well but are prone to problems with relays and are a little more pricey, but they do use three transmit tubes (6146b) in the final that will give you 160-180 out.
73
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