I'm totally new to amateur gear anyone have any suggestions for a rig under 350$ would love to get into great ssb audio on a real radio
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Looking for a HF rig under 350$
- Thread starter bigred222
- Start date
For that price you're looking at an older model like a Yaesu 757gx, Icom 725, Icom 735, Kenwood 530s and etc.
Yup.
How do you define 'good audio on SSB'? For a $350 budget, it will not buy much. Looking at a grand for a radio that can alter SSB width, if that is your thinking. If you are thinking about receive performance, a older Kenwood might be the ticket.
How do you define 'good audio on SSB'? For a $350 budget, it will not buy much. Looking at a grand for a radio that can alter SSB width, if that is your thinking. If you are thinking about receive performance, a older Kenwood might be the ticket.
Hybrids? Kenwood TS520/530S, Yaesu FT-101 series.
Transistor? Kenwood TS430S, Yaesu FT-757GX/II, maybe an older Icom IC-718. I think Alinco has some decent rigs that you can find used in this price range as well, but I'm not that familiar with their line-up.
There are deals to be found out there. Check your local ham web sites for ads... sometimes guys have upgraded their shack to newer stuff, and want to pass on their old gear to newbie hams. I scored a NICE TS520 for 125 bucks.
73,
Brett
Transistor? Kenwood TS430S, Yaesu FT-757GX/II, maybe an older Icom IC-718. I think Alinco has some decent rigs that you can find used in this price range as well, but I'm not that familiar with their line-up.
There are deals to be found out there. Check your local ham web sites for ads... sometimes guys have upgraded their shack to newer stuff, and want to pass on their old gear to newbie hams. I scored a NICE TS520 for 125 bucks.
73,
Brett
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
You can pick up a Kenwood TS-140s for about that and it's a nice hf radio. I found one in excellent shape a few years ago for $325.
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that price range leaves very few choices but lots of compromises. The older hybrid radios like the Kenwood TS 520/820/830 series are really nice performers however they are old and have tube finals. If you don't know how to operate tube finals then that may be an issue. Also there may be aging issues and some of those radios have card edge connectors that need to be cleaned from time to time. No big deal as long as you understand what is wrong and how to cure it. Some of the solid state radios such as the Yaesu FT-757GX are no longer supported by the manufacturer and in the event a proprietary part fails then you may be SOL.
definitely want something all solid state. someone offered me an ft101e for 200 a while back ill have to check with him and see if he still has it. bad ass looking radio though. used to have a tube amp but never had to tune it really got it tuned for the channel it was used on with a guy running the same antenna and length of feedline i was using so much adjustment didnt need to be made. was a courier bl-100. worked great
The Yaesu is a great old rig. Just be careful what you are getting. If your guy is trustworthy and didn't hack or use a golden screwdriver, you will probably be ok. Standard blah blah blah about dried up caps. Tons of help here:
Www.foxtango.org
73,
Brett
Www.foxtango.org
73,
Brett
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
You definitely have to be careful of old radios that were popular for use on the CB band. Old Yaesu's especially. After 25 years a ham I'm sold on new Yaesu hf rigs but I also like the Kenwood TS-140s as a main hf radio. I've owned more new and used hf rigs than I can remember and the TS-140S stands out as a solid no frills performer. No problems ever with the two I've owned and I still have the second one. I bought the first one brand new in 1988.
The TS-140 is a decent older radio however the weak point is the slide pots on the right side. Almost everyone has had issues with them at some point in time. I also agree with getting a tube type rig that has been (ab)used by a CB'er especially the Yaesu's with AM mode. Most of them have been beat to death from running too much carrier. If you are familiar with tuning tube finals there is nothing wrong with the classics Kenwood hybrids that have been kept in good shape. I have a TS-820S as my back up rig and it works GREAT. In facty it sounds better on both RX and TX than my FT-857D. I also have an older TS-520 that still works great.....at least I think it does. I loaned it out to my former boss over a year ago and he still has it.
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
I've never had problems with them although the rf power slider is a little touchy and should have been assigned to a different type of control. People do complain about them a bit.
I had a ICOM 720a many years ago that was a decent rig except for the damn band switching relays that made a racket when switching bands. They can be had fairly cheap and there is a mod out there to replace the relays with electronic switching.