Tom,
Let's see... you mentioned you really missed the AMP twice... and you really
liked your '450 once...
I would suggest you could do both within your budget... That is, upgrade your
FT-840 to another TS-450 and purchase a used amp too. You would then have two
identical transceivers. You would have a better FSK rig, less feature
confusion, less wiring headaches, and better troubleshooting if something
wasn't working right on one radio or the other. You could hook up the amp to
your "favorite" radio. :-)
I have been following eBay as I'm looking for another rig myself. I see the
FT-840 selling for about $500 and the Kenwood is pretty much in the same range.
You might be able to do a "swap" for a one or two hundred buck plus your time &
effort.
Then with the remaining $800 of funds you could pick up an AL-80, a pretty
standard design with a single 3-500 tube. That would get you 500 watts of RTTY
(and a KW on other modes). There's one for sale right now on eBay item:
5871176502. An AL-80B recently sold for $760 eBay item: 5865555827.
For my new station I have the IC-756 Pro III and QRO HF-2500DX. I am looking
for another set of this equipment. I will be selling my Kenwood TS-950SDX
(filtered up), the SM-230 monitor, and TL-922A to help offset the cost. I also
have an IC-2KL that will go on the auction block soon. My new ham shack is not
finished yet, so I have time to cruise looking for this equipment.
73 de Bob - K0RC
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 21:12:00 -0800
From: "Tom Osborne" <w7why@verizon.net>
Subject: [RTTY] Station upgrade
To: "RTTY" <rtty@contesting.com>
Message-ID: <000501c63900$d7d98d60$1f12fea9@Tom>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
reply-type=original
OK, here's the scoop.
I have about $1000 to spend on a new toy. Right now I am running a
TS-450SAT as my main radio and a FT-840 as the 2nd radio--no amp in the
shack (sure miss it sometimes).
What would be the the best "bang for the buck"--upgrade to a better radio or
buy an amplifier? I really like my '450 as I can run FSK and use the CW
filters with it. The 840 is OK, but with AFSK there are no filters. I use
an audio filter, which works-sort of, but sure miss the filters like in the
450.
There are times when I really miss my amp though. 73
Tom W7WHY
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