I would disagree. If you look around there are a great deal of 'older
radios' available. I picked up an HW-101 for the asking and only needed
some minor fixes. I've seen Corsair IIs for sale at great prices and it's
still one of the best performers out there. I recently picked up a TS-450
at a very good price. It all depends on what your willing to spend and in
some cases if your willing to do a little trouble shooting to get it on the
air.
Many of the radios that sit unsold at hamfests are ones we would have really
wanted when I got into the hobby in the late 70s.
73 Rick
N4ASX
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Dr. Gerald N. Johnson
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:49 PM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Looking for "cheap" rig or honest and patient ham
On 9/2/2010 2:37 PM, Rick - NJ0IP / DJ0IP wrote:
> I wanted to suggest the TS-120 or TS-130 too.
> I have recently seen them for $200 and $300.
> I have never been a Kenwood fan, but when you are looking for bangs for
the
> buck in this price class, they are hard to beat.
>
> The comment on the front end is valid but probably not a problem in his
> neighborhood.
Its detectable but not disastrous. Some strong signals have a bit of
splatter that's not heard with a Corsair II on the same antenna.
Another feature of the 120 and 130 is that the PA protection from high
swr works well. You can put a brick on the key at full power and
manually tune the antenna tuner for maximum RF from the radio and the
radio will not be hurt. Not like a tentec that might trip a circuit
breaker when the PA current gets too high from a low impedance load (as
seen at the PA transistor collectors). So the 120 and 130 has a robust
PA section.
>
> As a CW rig I would prefer the Triton IV or Omni (original models), but
you
> have to be careful with the PTO; it might have to be rebuilt and that
costs
> a bit more.
>
> I just helped a local ham in a similar situation.
> We went with the TS-130.
> One more thing to remember; he's going to probably need a matchbox, an SWR
> or Watt Meter, and a couple of coax jumpers.
> You're looking at another $50 to $100 to get all this stuff, and you still
> don't have an antenna or coax.
So true.
>
> Now days it's hard to get started on a shoestring budget.
> You really need to budget for a bootstring.
>
> 73
> Rick
>
>73, Jerry, K0CQ
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