[geeks] Moved to geeks: Cheap Ham radios (was Dayton Hamfest)

[Lionel Peterson]

On May 19, 2008, at 11:08 AM, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"  
<gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:

> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 06:13:10AM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> I was flipping through various Ham retail sites and stumbled across  
>> this Icom
>> HF radio (160 Meters -> 10 Meters, AM, SSB, CW at 100 Watts (40 on  
>> AM)) that
>> is available for $545-595 (currently a $50 rebate available).[0]  
>> That, in my
>> mind is a good, cheap HF radio for starting with... Of course, you  
>> would need
>> a 20 Amp 12 Volt power supply in the house, so figure on another  
>> $100-150 for
>> that...
>
> There is a big difference between $600 and $200, even with a rebate.

I agree 100% - my point with this radio was to show what one well- 
knonw mfg. has available as an entry-level radio with resonable specs.

>
> If you read the fine print, it was reviewed in QST, July 2000, so it's
> been on the market for 8 to 9 years.

I'm OK with proven, mature technology ;^)

IMHO few hams *today* would be satisfied with the equivalent of the  
old Heathkit HW-101 (I think that was their entry-level radio) - those  
that would embrace such a radio would likely buy it out of nostalgia,  
to put next to their main rig (or in their Field Day kit)...

Reminds me of the Alinco "credit card HTs" of a few years ago - while  
some new no-code techs may have bought one, I suspect most were bought  
as a lark, and now we have $100 2m HTs...

Lionel