Radio Free Raubsville consists at the moment of old radio equipment:

• HF: Henry Tempo One (Yaesu FT-200), ca. 1976
• Realistic HTX-202 2M FM hand-held, ca. 1992

Impressive, isn't it?

There is a state-of-last-year's-art laptop computer - a Dell Inspiron 700m - that does nothing more than run Win-EQF for logging. (It's not as though I can control the FT-200 with it!) I can't even use it on our high-speed Internet connection, because the WiFi router sends hash every 2kHz on 20 meters. So when I work 20m, I leave the Dell in the other room, turn off the WiFi, and use my trusty ARRL Logbook I've had since I was KB3AIM in 1992. If I'm working a contest, I have to transfer the paper into Cabrillo format by hand. (!)

So when you read the following, you'll know why I'm being so thorough. (You also know why I'm not going to win the ARRL Sweepstakes anytime soon.)

Antennas consist of a low dipole for NVIS on 75m and a homebrew vertical for 20m. At least I can get out (after a fashion).

The station is in the process of being rebuilt. Most of the equipment was sold several years ago, when Real Life ™ prevented spending time on the hobby and rented living quarters prevented both good station equipment installation inside and good aerial installation outside. It is slowly being replaced, however, and I thought sharing my research would be a good idea for other amateurs kitting up for operations.

In a perfect world, I'd have the Yaesu top-of-the-line transceiver, complete with amplifier, towers, and directional antennas. Since my world is far from perfect, I've got to come up with another plan.

Usually, advisors tell the enthusiastic purchaser of equipment whose pockets are shallow indeed -- in other words, me -- to choose between two simple options:

1. Focus on one area of interest and get less equipment, while getting the best equipment for that interest; or
2. Get generalized equipment that won't excel at any one facet of amateur radio.

There are too many areas of interest for me. I want to do emergency work, but I still want to be a competitive contester (well, as competitive as a hundred watts and wire antennas can be). I'd like to sate my long-unsatisfied QRP jones. I'd like to have the ability to crank out more dB, though the legal limit isn't that important. Plus I'm poor as a churchmouse.

So what to do?

I guess I'll have to get compromise equipment. 

Thankfully, I know what I like and what I don't.  So hereafter you'll find lists of my criteria, followed by discussions of equipment options and maybe a choice or two.

First I'll need a reliable, basic HF transceiver.

The HF Rig - Needs 

• Simple control layout
• RIT
• Split operation
• Relatively low cost

Simple, huh?

The HF Rig - Wants

• DSP
• Speech processing
• Internal CW keyer

Not much more, is it?  I already know I'm not a "bells and whistles" type of operator (there goes the FTDX-9000), so we can keep it simple and save some money along the way.  I also don't want to wade through seventeen different combinations of menus and hotkeys to get to a setting I want to adjust.

Given the above criteria, let's see what's out there on the new-radio market: (List in no order of preference.  Hell, it's in alphabetical order, because that's how the catalogs list stuff.  Prices from AES, as of 02/02/06.)

Alinco	DX77T	$699.99
Icom	IC718	$599.99
Kenwood	TS50S	$699.99
SGC	SG-2020ADSP2	$795.00
Yaesu	FT840	$599.99

Now, let's start the process of elimination.

First out is easy: the Kenwood.  The technology is quite old, and it's too small for me to reliably get hold of all the controls.  I only included it out of guilt, anyway (because I wanted to include all of the Big Three), since it compares more accurately to the small mobiles offered by the other manufacturers. I wonder why Kenwood doesn't have an "entry-level" HF transceiver?  Maybe someone can let me know.

Narrowing the others is more difficult.  I used to have an FT840, and enjoyed operating it.  Made a passel of contacts with it, enjoyed the audio on both transmit and receive, and liked the simplicity of it.  Compared to the others, though, it's as old as the TS50S, and lacks "all mode" operation (AM and FM boards are optional).  It also lacks DSP, standard receive filters, an integral iambic keyer and front-firing speaker.  It's pretty rugged and simple, and I know it well.  Those are plusses.  But the minuses outweigh those.

The Icom IC718 is a few years old.  It's quite an impressive piece of equipment, with good reviews from EHam.net.  Comes with an integral speech processor and iambic keyer.  Also comes with everything I want from the list above.  It does have a menu-based adjustment system, but it appears to be fairly simple, with only two levels of menu.  Everything else is knobs and buttons.  On the downside, internal receive filters are an option.  But there is a $50 rebate at the moment, which means the cost for the unit is $549.99.  And with the DSP, maybe I won't need the hardwired filters...

The DX77T is Alinco's first foray into the "desktop base station" market.  It looks like the IC718, and it's got alot of the same features (though without DSP).  I wonder... Anyway, it gets good reviews, and I like the fact that it's not from one of the Big 3, but that's an insufficient reason to seriously consider it, based on price alone.

Plus, with the various specials we're seeing these days, the price of the Icom continues to drop.  A visit to http://www.kjielectronics.com/special/offer01.shtml showed me a complete HF station for $799, shipped.  There's a few things I neither need nor want, like the straight key and G5RV (I hate "do it all" antennas; no such panacea exists).  But I'll take 'em, just in case my trusty old J-38 and all my homebrew aerials vaporize themselves.

But I still haven't talked about the SGC.  The little 2020 has standard 2nd-generation DSP (which SGC calls "advanced"), an integral keyer, and is a really rugged little bloke. I've used SGC gear before, and they really take a lickin', and they're wonderfully simple to use. The downsides are that it puts out a mere 20 watts at full power and costs more. But that also fits my QRP addiction, so...six of one, half a dozen of another. 

But that's not really a problem, since Communications Concepts supplies HF amplifier kits to get me somewhat beyond 100 watts at a reasonable price (and the wonderfu smell of hot solder...). And I love the militaristic look of the radio; it appeals to the soldier still living in me. Hell, you can get it with a manpack option, complete with H-250!

So I have to make up my mind.

The Bands Above HF

I had considered getting one of the new all-mode, most-bands rigs like the Icom IC706MkIIG or Yaesu FT857/897, because the cost would actually come in below seperate radios.  I decided against it for several reasons, the most important of which is that I'd like to be able to talk on and listen to multiple bands at the same time. 

There was also packet to be considered, but since we've got a wireless network attached to a cable modem here, there's no reason to dedicate a VHF/UHF radio to sloooow transfer of ASCII text.  If I want to look at the DX Cluster, I'll telnet to a cluster node.  That said, I'll be looking for either a radio that has a packet TNC built in or a cheap packet interface, just in case everything goes to pot.

As an aside, I do have an inclination to VHF and above long-range communication at some point, but for the moment FM will do fine.

It's simply more versatile to have seperate radios for HF and VHF/UHF.  That makes it necessary for us to shop for another radio. 

The same criteria hold forth for a VHF/UHF radio as for HF, at least for me.  I need something uncomplicated, rugged, and with more than a few memories (there are a lot of repeaters and stuff around here).  An alphanumeric display for the memory channels would be nice, though not entirely necessary.  I really want to be able to see where the VFO is on both bands, too.  Reduces button pushes, which is one of my watchwords for simplicity.

Another perusal of the Internet stores reveals a wide variety of choices.  At first blush, I'm attracted to the following radios:

Alinco	DR620T	$339.99
Alinco	DR635T	$369.99
Icom	IC2720H	$399.99
Kenwood	TMV708A	$399.99
Yaesu	FT8800R	$389.99

Tough choices, since there's no obvious low-price leader, but let's take them in order. 

The Alinco DR620T is a fine radio, and is priced attractively.  It has both bands visible in the display, lots of memories, and also sports three different output power levels.  I like this last, because unlike most amateurs I always adhere to using the lowest power needed to maintain reliable communications.  It doesn't have a standard on-board packet TNC, though it is available optionally for another $130.

The DR635T from Alinco is basically the same radio as the first, with the addition of cross-band repeat functionality.  Unneccessary for my home station, though something to think about for the mobile.  You never know.  But it's right out for home.

The Icom IC2720H has everything the Alinco units have, with the addition of seperate knobs and buttons for each band.  It also sports a built-in packet TNC supporting up to 9600 baud, plus more memories than the Alinco units.  It also has crossband repeat.

Kenwood's TMV708A looks nice, but I can't find detailed information for it on either retailer or manufacturer's websites.  So it's out.  (What's with Kenwood, anyway?!)

As for Yaesu's FT8800R, it has a host of features included in the base price, like simultaneous monitoring of the other band. Each band has its own volume and squelch controls right on the face, and you get more than 1000(!) memories.  Plus AES is offering the remote-head mounting kit for free.  It doesn't have a TNC built in like the Icom, though. 

Now, the decision.  I think the Yaesu wins for massive amounts of features at a reasonable price, and AES for throwing in a free widget.  But let's look at it through the prism of my requirements.  I don't need to remotely mount the control head, so that makes no difference (though it might for the mobile!).  Taking everything into consideration, it looks like I'm getting another Icom.