HF radio for camping..

[KD2GOE]

every year in the summer my family will go tent camping, and with just passing the general test i would like to work HF when i am the woods. it is a nice treat not being in the city with a ton of QRM for a week.
last year with just having a tech i worked some 6 meters and 10 but that was with my Kenwood TS-2000 and i don't want to lug a $1,500 around and brake it with my luck.
so this summer Tax time i want to get a HF only radio 100 watts that i can power with a 12V deep cyl battery. and i cant spend any more then $500 per the wife.
radios i was looking at are.
Icom-718
Kenwood TS-140s
icom-706
Kenwood TS-50
what other would you recommend looking out for?

 

[binrat]

Congrats on your General. I've had all four of them at some point. For me it would be a toss-up between the TS-50 and the 718. If you have room to pack it the 718 is a great little radio, if lacking room then the TS-50.

 

[RatsoW8]

Any of them would work and I've owned all. But, if you want a rig that does it all well the 706MKIIG would be my pick if I found one for less than $300 which isn't going to happen. they are becoming hard to find though. Take a look at the Alinco SR8T going for $520 brand new. That's a deal and just a few more bones that you're going to pay for any of the radios you listed on the used market.

 

[w9cll]

I second the 706 but keep in mind they are getting a bit long in the tooth so finding a good working one might be hard. I also agree with the Alinco suggestion. The Kenwood Ts-50 is a great rig and if you can find it at the right price it would make a good option as well.

 

[KD2GOE]

I did look at the Alinco SR8T
But it seems to have some issues that turned me off to it.
I dont exactly remember what right now
definitely not a radio I would get off of ebay or without looking at it first

 

[RatsoW8]

Silly me I left out a radio that I own and really like. I bought a like new Alinco DX-70TH from a forum member and it would also be an excellent rig for base and portable operation. Give those a look as well.

 

[Mudfoot]

if I found one for less than $300

Would be my recommendation for trying one of these.

 

[Mudfoot]

I did look at the Alinco SR8T

Darn good rig. Can be had cheap and sounds great. Blows the pants off an ICOM 718.

 

[KD2GOE]

well if i want to go with a radio that's still in production . it looks to be
Alinco SR8T or Icom-718 ill watch out for the icom-718

 

[KD2GOE]

Darn good rig. Can be had cheap and sounds great. Blows the pants off an ICOM 718.

can you explain?

 

[RatsoW8]

can you explain?

I had a 718 in the shack for about two weeks. Icom had a good idea with the radio but they didn't finish it. No FM,had a fixed ALC I believe and some other features left out of the radio that I can't remember at the moment. I bought it and brand new FT-450 (another compact HF radio still in production to take a look at) 6 years ago and the Icom was gone after two weeks. I kept the FT-450 until I got the itch to try the FT-950.

 

[KD2GOE]

I had a 718 in the shack for about two weeks. Icom had a good idea with the radio but they didn't finish it. No FM,had a fixed ALC I believe and some other features left out of the radio that I can't remember at the moment. I bought it and brand new FT-450 (another compact HF radio still in production to take a look at) 6 years ago and the Icom was gone after two weeks. I kept the FT-450 until I got the itch to try the FT-950.

Well as for the icom718 having no fm is no matter to me

was there something about the speech compressor and. noise blanker on theAlinco SR8T that did not work?

 

[RatsoW8]

Never owned a SR8T. Don't dismiss FM too quickly. 10m FM is a different animal altogether and I used to have a ball working through the 10 repeaters.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Never owned a SR8T. Don't dismiss FM too quickly. 10m FM is a different animal altogether and I used to have a ball working through the 10 repeaters.

Oh man I used to have a ball working 10m FM A buddy of mine VE1TJP(SK) had a European CB radio, which were FM, modified for 10m. We would be chatting away with about 3 or 4 watts with usually at least one of us mobile at the time and would have all kinds of stations breaking in. Occasionally we would work thru the repeaters but would have to manually and quickly switch 10 channels UP and DOWN each transmission as we had no offset. Working 10m FM can be a lot of fun.

 

[Mudfoot]

Never owned a SR8T. Don't dismiss FM too quickly. 10m FM is a different animal altogether and I used to have a ball working through the 10 repeaters.

10 meter FM is definitely alright. It sure beats 2 meter FM.