hf rigs

[Chong]

i am upgrading to general and was wondering a good hf rig that isint expensive and is easy to use what would you fellow hams recomend? let me know thanks.

 

[NorthStar]

If your buying used a simple ol Kenwood TS140 be a good starter rig.

 

[rfoverlord]

congrats!! chong me personally if i didn't have the ic-7000 i would have went with a yaesu 857 for mobile or a 897 for both since you didn't state wether it was for mobile or base i would assume it is for base use. If you are looking for a lower priced hf only there is the yaesu 840 for around $600-$700 bucks. hope work ya once you upgrade. 73

 

[dxhound]

If your looking for simple and "Cheaper" try looking at these HF only rigs on ebay or QTH.COM or QRZ
Icom 718
Icom 735
Yaesu 757gx
Yaesu 767
Yaesu ft101 Tube type with cw and ssb only
Kenwood 130s
Kenwood 430s
Kenwood 440s
Kenwood ts50

Go to ebay and type in "HF" Then click sort by price and start looking in the area of how much your willing to spend.

 

[W5LZ]

Chong,
Good for you! And good luck.
The 'biggy' seems to be how big or small radios are now. Newer ones tend to be smaller than older ones. Big deal, till you start to try to find a place to put them in a car. Or in the house, trying to push just -one- button at a time! (<-- my problem).
Probably the 'biggy' with used stuff is just how 'used' is it and how old? After a certain 'age', finding parts gets difficult. After a certain amount of 'usage' they're beat to death'. Staying away from those thingys is sort of a good idea.
I'm not much of an Icom or Yaesu fan but can tell you a bit about the Kenwood stuff, sort of. If you add a TS-450 and TS-850 to "dxhound"s list you've pretty well covered Kenwood for the last 20-30 years. And no matter what model or brand you select, it doesn't say anywhere that you are 'locked' into that choice forever.
Have fun!
- 'Doc

PS - The common saying, "If you ain't got Kenwood you ain't got squat", is incorrect! It ought to be, "If you ain't got Kenwood, you got squat!". I'm sort of prejudiced.

 

[park]

Don't get a rig that has a handle on the side, because that's an indication of having to carry it to the shop alot !

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Don't get a rig that has a handle on the side, because that's an indication of having to carry it to the shop alot !

:x :x I take exception to that! Actually some of the most reliable rigs made have a handle on the side. I'm still not sure WHY however.I would not want to trust one while carrying my rig and most of those rigs with handles are too bloody heavy to carry in one hand anyway. My good old Kenwood TS-820S falls into that category. BTW it's 30 years old and only had the cover off twice. Once was to install optional filters and the other was to tweak the alignment on the speech processor.

 

[SR385]

Beware ebay rigs if you don't have someone who can help you if repairs/alignment is needed. A lot of people dump some really burned out rigs on there.

If you go used, try looking to your local amateur clubs. People are less likely to rip you off if they know you are where you can find them ;-)

If you are tight on budget, an Icom 718 or a Yaesu 897/857 nice shiny and new would be a nicer bet and any of them would be handy as a portable or mobile rig once you get going and maybe want upgraded features for base use.

 

[Chong]

thanks

thanks for the suggestions guys looks like im going to end up selling everything to afford an hf rig hopefully ill end up with a good rig haha

 

[doctor]

radio

Go to qth.com, you can get a ts 520 for or around $250 or so.
Ebay someone else's problems you get stuck with and you get the problem next

73

doctor :shock: