The NVIS thread had an excellent question about HF radios-- what should a beginner get in an HF rig?
I'll answer with the following assumptions/recommendations, that may or may not represent any given situation:
* The buyer has a budget... Let's say $300-600$ for a radio
* The buyer is not exactly sure what their long term ham interests are (Voice? Code? Data modes? etc...)
* The buyer is looking for a rig that can be usable beyond the "noob" stage... ie, a reasonably capable rig, not junk.
* I'll avoid recommending an "all in one" rig like an IC706. While it can do HF and VHF all in one box, you'll likely quickly tire of the complexity of trying to do both with one box, and the gyrations needed to take the rig from the home station to a mobile, as you may wish to do with a VHF radio. The menus are also not for the faint of heart.
* You'll want a 100w rig. I've worked the world with QRP and enjoy it, but I'd not recommend starting out with a 5 watt radio.
* All solid state. I've love my boatanchors (from 30's thordarson transmitters to hybrid rigs like a TS820) but tuning a tube final is a complexity not needed for a starter rig.
-----------------------------
Given these constraints I might recommend if NEW
* Icom 718-- a solid rig with thousands on the air. Whether you end up doing SSB, CW or other digital modes, this will serve you well. It's a solid, basic rig, not hard to operate and is quite affordable. Icom sells a lot of them. New street price can be just about the upper limit of this budget
* Yaesu FT450--- similar to the above, it's a good rig with 6m capability (which likely will not be of interest for at least 5 years
) High end of the budget range, but sales are out there if you look.
--------------------------------
Used HF rigs to recommend:
* Kenwood TS440 or 430. - These can be found inexpensively and have a lot of life in them. They're good radios and there's still a ton of them on the air. Cost? $275-$475
* Kenwood TS140- a stripped down TS440- solid HF rig (I have owned one for 30 yrs) . Cheap and quite usable. Cost-$250-$350 ish? TS 120 and 130 are earlier version and I still hear 'em on the air. Expect $150-$275 ish
* Drake TR7 - You can find these in the $500 range. Excellent rigs that are highly reliable and still world class.
* Icom 735 is a good all-around rig. I sold several in the $300-400 range
* Drake TR7-- an oldie and a very goodie. They'll usually come with a PS-7 supply that is extremely overengineered. $500 ish if you look hard. They're excellent radios even today
* IC706-x Any flavor will work, expect to wrestle with menus a fair amount, but there's a lot of radio in these things and they WILL do VHF as well. $400 up
* Yaesu-An FT450 is a capable rig and won't break the bank. You still hear a lot of these
* FT7--an older rig that still works great. Extremely simple and I still have a couple of them ... Yaesu made a LOT of nice solid state rigs along the way. I'd stay away from the super high end as they're the ones that are likely to be harder to fix, more likely to fail, and contain proprietary parts that are hard to find.
* Tentec-- lots of good rigs and some not super great rigs.
With either of these you'll need a ~ 25A 12V DC supply , as they have no AC supply built in. Of course, like any hobby there's an endless array of doodads you'll not be able to live without, so plan some extra. The supply might be one that was sold with the radio or can be an aftermarket version - I'd avoid switching supplies not so much out of concern from switching noise, but from reliability factors. Apart from dried out filter caps it's pretty hard to kill a linear supply too badly.
That's my first swing at this. Of course I left out criteria like "do you want all band shortwave receivers? Are you handy at repair" ...and others.
I'd advise that if you buy used, you do so locally or with the help of some experienced hams to help you out. Like buying anything, there's some (!) junk in the used marketplace that you'll want to avoid as much as possible. A good local "elmer" or experienced ham can help... there's several of us here that you can run ideas by.
Hope that help-- others, please jump in and correct me or add to the list.
I'll answer with the following assumptions/recommendations, that may or may not represent any given situation:
* The buyer has a budget... Let's say $300-600$ for a radio
* The buyer is not exactly sure what their long term ham interests are (Voice? Code? Data modes? etc...)
* The buyer is looking for a rig that can be usable beyond the "noob" stage... ie, a reasonably capable rig, not junk.
* I'll avoid recommending an "all in one" rig like an IC706. While it can do HF and VHF all in one box, you'll likely quickly tire of the complexity of trying to do both with one box, and the gyrations needed to take the rig from the home station to a mobile, as you may wish to do with a VHF radio. The menus are also not for the faint of heart.
* You'll want a 100w rig. I've worked the world with QRP and enjoy it, but I'd not recommend starting out with a 5 watt radio.
* All solid state. I've love my boatanchors (from 30's thordarson transmitters to hybrid rigs like a TS820) but tuning a tube final is a complexity not needed for a starter rig.
-----------------------------
Given these constraints I might recommend if NEW
* Icom 718-- a solid rig with thousands on the air. Whether you end up doing SSB, CW or other digital modes, this will serve you well. It's a solid, basic rig, not hard to operate and is quite affordable. Icom sells a lot of them. New street price can be just about the upper limit of this budget
* Yaesu FT450--- similar to the above, it's a good rig with 6m capability (which likely will not be of interest for at least 5 years
) High end of the budget range, but sales are out there if you look.--------------------------------
Used HF rigs to recommend:
* Kenwood TS440 or 430. - These can be found inexpensively and have a lot of life in them. They're good radios and there's still a ton of them on the air. Cost? $275-$475
* Kenwood TS140- a stripped down TS440- solid HF rig (I have owned one for 30 yrs) . Cheap and quite usable. Cost-$250-$350 ish? TS 120 and 130 are earlier version and I still hear 'em on the air. Expect $150-$275 ish
* Drake TR7 - You can find these in the $500 range. Excellent rigs that are highly reliable and still world class.
* Icom 735 is a good all-around rig. I sold several in the $300-400 range
* Drake TR7-- an oldie and a very goodie. They'll usually come with a PS-7 supply that is extremely overengineered. $500 ish if you look hard. They're excellent radios even today
* IC706-x Any flavor will work, expect to wrestle with menus a fair amount, but there's a lot of radio in these things and they WILL do VHF as well. $400 up
* Yaesu-An FT450 is a capable rig and won't break the bank. You still hear a lot of these
* FT7--an older rig that still works great. Extremely simple and I still have a couple of them ... Yaesu made a LOT of nice solid state rigs along the way. I'd stay away from the super high end as they're the ones that are likely to be harder to fix, more likely to fail, and contain proprietary parts that are hard to find.
* Tentec-- lots of good rigs and some not super great rigs.
With either of these you'll need a ~ 25A 12V DC supply , as they have no AC supply built in. Of course, like any hobby there's an endless array of doodads you'll not be able to live without, so plan some extra. The supply might be one that was sold with the radio or can be an aftermarket version - I'd avoid switching supplies not so much out of concern from switching noise, but from reliability factors. Apart from dried out filter caps it's pretty hard to kill a linear supply too badly.
That's my first swing at this. Of course I left out criteria like "do you want all band shortwave receivers? Are you handy at repair" ...and others.
I'd advise that if you buy used, you do so locally or with the help of some experienced hams to help you out. Like buying anything, there's some (!) junk in the used marketplace that you'll want to avoid as much as possible. A good local "elmer" or experienced ham can help... there's several of us here that you can run ideas by.
Hope that help-- others, please jump in and correct me or add to the list.
Last edited by a moderator:
