Hey BlackJack, What kind of talking do ya do AM or SSB? I've never owned one. My friend bought one from *opper Electronics recently and We talked on SSB for a bit. I wasn't to impressed on how it sounded out of the box........Real tinny and thin sounding, and it was drifting like a sailboat on SSB........Maybe properly tuned and aligned it would be a decent radio for price........, I'd go to maybe an older Ranger 2950 or a new Galaxy DX959 If you want to stay in that price range........Or if you want to kick it up a notch......There's some good radio's out there....But just shop around a little, get some different oppions just like your doing........73's