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

[James Fogg]

> >It would be nice to have a cheap rig.  The cheapest, new HF rig of decent
> power runs around $500-550.  A little expensive for beginning hams and
> those reentering the hobby.
>
> The "cheap" radios of days gone by (Henry Radio Tempo One, Yaseu FT-101,
> Kenwood TS-520) all cost around $500-700, IIRC - but those were 1970's US
> dollars. Five or six hundred dollars today is much more affordable today
> than it was then...


Many people would find an inexpensive HF radio a big disappointment. A good
receiver is important on HF. Since many hams begin in the VHF/UHF world they
get spoiled with clean FM and strong signals.

The other surprise is the antenna requirements for HF. I have a UHF 1/4 wave
ground plane that cost me $4.00 to build and it sits on top of a bookcase. My
HF antenna is an 80M inverted V that so far has cost about $200.00 (mast,
ropes, balun, etc.). The inverted V requires a huge footprint in the yard. The
mast guys are spaced at 20 feet out from the pole and the V ends are about 120
feet apart. So far I haven't found any compact HF antennas that perform well.