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Which would you choose and why?

T

tradefederation

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Apr 10, 2015
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Hi All,
I'm new to the ham world. I have played with ham over the decades but never focused on it till now. If you were going to choose a first piece which one would you choose. I have a ham that is guiding me but always suggests other opinions. I was looking at a TS-570S ($600), a 756 Pro ($800), FT-950 ($850) and a FT-450AT ($450). These are all "turn key." Also what combinations and choices of antennas would you suggest. Paint me a picture of your ham shack given this info.
Thanks
Dave
 

An answer to the above post questions will definitely help narrow down the the type of antenna farm you will want/ have space for.

Any one of the rigs you posted will work fine for hf and some on vhf.

None of the rigs are worth a hoot if you do not have a decent antenna to connect them to
 
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Primary interests, contacts from other continents (unrelated ATV's and firearms)....extreme long distance communication, I'm not interested in continuous wave or phone. I have very little experience with 160 or 80. And, 3 acres, 2000 sq ft, 2 story, surrounded with lightly wooded areas with neighbors not to close. As I said, I'm new and want one radio. I have a few hobbies already but am now able to add one more. The 756 Pro is in my top 2.
Dave
 
When hams say "phone", they're usually referring to radiotelephone (voice communication) as opposed to Morse code, RTTY, and digital modes. If you're interested in "extreme" distances, halfway around the world is the best we can offer on HF. Higher bands allow for moonbounce with manageable antenna size.

Make a few dipoles, learn how the radio works with them. Have fun.
 
tradefederation said:
Hi
Interesting, thanks for the info and newbie tolerance. It gives me something to think about.
Dave
Click to expand...

One of the great things about this forum is the tolerance for newbies. You won't find much for BS, but you will as far as people being willing to help and teach as opposed to preach (mostly).

It sounds like you have a great land situation. All the radios will do you well and as stated it will be the antenna that will rule the day.
Option 1) get a radio that does you want it for now and expect to upgrade later.
Option 2) get the one will do EVERYTHING you want now and don't look back.

It will be the antenna (antennas) that will be where you will obtain what you desire.
A good radio helps exploit the antenna, but there is no middle ground (for me anyway).
 
Of the choices you listed, I like the Icom 756 Pro, but I prefer Icom rigs compared to Yaesu and Kenwood (I also like Elecraft if you want to go for the best). Are you willing to save a little longer to spend a bit more on a new rig? If so, take a look at the Icom 7410 - it's a pretty nice rig that will you will be quite happy with given your stated requirements.

You mentioned wanting antenna advice: use Beetle's. Put up some dipoles (cheap and effective) to learn how thing work and have fun. Then decide later if you want to do something different. I love wire antennas - they are the purest expression of the hobby.
 
As posted before, put up some dipoles with correct installation.

Make sure you have good 1:1 current baluns at the feed point, understand how the radiation pattern of a basic dipoles performs then start experimenting with different type of antennas and most of all!!!!
HAVE FUN
 
With the choices of radios you given, I would go with the FT950.

Why? because it is the most modern of the radios you mentioned and has the useful modern features that we look for in new radios today.

These features include a 3 KHz roofing filter and DSP noise reduction. The Icom 756Pro (1st generation) or TS570 are older rigs that don't have these features. The 450 has DSP but a useless 10Khz roofing filter, the new 450D has improved the DSP according to claims.

I run a Kenwood TS590S at home and a Icom- IC 7000 for a mobile. Both radios I'm happy with. I would like to upgrade my base radio to the Icom 7600 one day because I like the new band-scope with waterfall display and just love the look of the radio overall.

My antenna is a Carolina Windom antenna which is basically a variant of an off center fed dipole which covers 10 thru 80 meters in an inverted V configuration.

As other have said, your antenna choice should be just as important as a consideration as a new radio. For a lot of us, we are limited of antenna choices by property size, costs, HOA neighborhoods, or what the wife will let you put up.

Often we have to look for the best compromise for what kind of radio operation we desire to work with.

The simplest multi-band lost cost antenna to put up is the G5RV. The saying goes with these antennas is " people swear by them or people swear at them" . I used one for my first HF antenna and it worked fine at the time, but after doing more research on wire antennas, I decided to go with the Windom antenna and has worked much better.

Dipoles are always good especially if you can put up a rotate-able one or string up single band dipoles if you have enough trees in your yard. If you have the space and money, then do the tower thing with beams and stack arrays.

Good luck and hope to see you on the bands soon.

73
 
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There's this antenna I am really fond of: Corner-Fed, Apex-Up Delta Loop. I built one of these things for 160 meters and with a tuner it will work all HF bands but 60.

It is a DX monster on 40 and 20.

Welcome!
 
Glad to see your interest in HF...
Couple notes on the IC756...These are getting older the IC756 pro (which was an upgraded version) these were discontinued almost 15 years ago...the standard 756 are even older.
These are notorious for Screen Issues...Last upgrade or replacement kits were exhausted like 5 years ago....So no fixes available unless you can find a parts rig....
Even the IC756 version II...were discontinued over 10 years ago...
Not that there is anything wrong with using older rigs....
However In-regards to radios with busy usage screens...
Would your Primary TV for use in today's world be one that the Picture tube/screen was 10-15 years Old ????? I have one 7 years old (top of the line SONY) and I am about ready to hook 480 vac across it so I can say I need a new one:LOL: (4K Ultra)

Just my 2 cents worth...
PS: also EVERYONE here knows I am a YAESU Man....FTdx3000 is my primary rig...:love:....Not a big fan of I Can Only Monitor radios:ROFLMAO:
All the Best
Gary
 

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