<p dir="ltr">It is good to poke around to figure out what corner(s) of the hobby you want to occupy. </p>
<p dir="ltr">With the Explorer you are in the game. The HT I use is a differently branded twin, and it has served me well. Others can help you with the 100W class of radios far more than I can. But you mentioned building your own equipment. If you want to explore that dimension look at kits by QRP Labs. Up until last week my shack consisted of the HT and two 5W CW only radios that I built from QRP Labs kits. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Also, if you are unsure if Ham Radio is for you look into Parks On The Air. You can use simple low power small footprint systems because other hams will be hunting for you. Every POTA day is like Field Day!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Make sure you go to the upcoming Club dinner!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Chris W2BPL <br>
</p>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Sent from my phone.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 27, 2024, 2:12 AM Richard T <<a href="mailto:radiohamateur@gmail.com">radiohamateur@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">Well Rick, congrats and welcome to the Fraternal order of Ham Radio. You pretty much have most of the research needed. But answer a few questions. 1. What bands interest you? If just 2 Meter ragchewing, a Vhf/Uhf rig may be all you need. Yaesu has many rigs that will serve you well. They have basic to full boat rigs available. If you like HF band work, Yarsu again has a wide choice of rigs, starting with their FT 710 AESS SDR rig or the FTdx10. The Icom 7300 is the Volkswagen of radios, good but now a bit dated. The Yaesu rigs offer more bang for ham buck IMHO. As for antennas, Diamond or Comet are good choices for Vhf/Uhf. For HF look at Palomar Engineers for their wire units, especially their Off Center Fed or their Non Resonant End Fed models. If still unsure, trek up to HRO in Salem NH and play with the display models there and ask a salesman your questions. You may just be happy with a 2 Meter handheld. I own two (!) Baofeng UV 5RM HTs bought on Amazon. The complete pair cost $70. This is two radios, batteries, chargers and three different antennas plus earphone/mic and programming cable. Hope this gives you some ideas and welcome to BARS. </p>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">RichieT<br>W1RJT</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 27, 2024, 12:36 AM Richard Heckbert <<a href="mailto:richard.heckbert@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">richard.heckbert@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Happy Holidays everyone,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I recently got into ham radio after retiring. I purchased a QRZ-1 Explorer handheld soon after getting my license and have been using it to check in to the Wednesday night net. I replaced the stubby antenna
with a hamstuff one and seem to be getting out much better but occasionally I still hear “I think I heard you say . . . “ My thought has always been to get a decent base unit eventually although to be honest I’m not sure if ham radio is for me (but I want
to try!) My wife asked for my Christmas list this year and I mentioned several radios that had been recommended on the hamradio and amateur radio subreddits on Reddit. Unfortunately, if you follow those subreddits, you’ll know that for each recommendation
asked you’ll get a hundred different suggestions that soon devolve into a Yaesu vs ICOM vs Kenwood battle. My wife was even more overwhelmed than I so rather than purchase one she put aside a budget of $1,000-$1,200 and asked me to purchase it myself.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, I’m not sure what I really want to do specifically, at this point I’d just love to be heard a little better Wednesday nights! I think I’d like a rig that gives me the most options – a shack in a box
as they say. I would also need an antenna and associated wiring although I’m not nearly as spry as I once was and I’m not putting anything in a tree any more. Maybe an attic antenna? I see ARRL has a new Indoor Antenna book out, has anyone looked at it
yet?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I’d ask on Reddit but I don’t want 100+ different opinions from 100+ fellow Redditors so I figured you all (the local Elmers!) would be a much better place to ask. I did get my Amateur Extra ticket recently
so no band restrictions. The rigs I’ve heard mentioned are (in no particular order)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p>Yaesu FTdx-10<span> (might be too much of a stretch)</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p>Yaesu FT-991A (did see a nice used one on one of the forums for $875 shipped)<u></u><u></u></p>
<p>ICOM-7300<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>But I am definitely open to others. I’ve looked at used rigs but besides less features, there seem to be no bargains in that area! I’ve thought about asking to borrow the club loaner rig but I don’t want to set something up only to have to take
it down in a bit – it wouldn’t be fair to other new users/members to keep it too long (in my opinion).<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>In addition to choosing a rig, I need to choose where to order if from. I primarily research and purchase online. A few places I’ve heard about are Gigaparts, DXEngineering, HRO in Salem, NH, any other good places to buy? I did look on eBay
but right now, it seems lower power Japanese versions are the vast majority of offers. I also worry about warranty purchasing on eBay.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>Just to throw this out, I have a background in electronics courtesy of the USN and I taught electronics at a trade school for a number of years as well as retired from a career in IT so I have this crazy idea that pops up occasionally to build
my own gear? Is this even done any more? I feel I might be biting off way more than I can chew with that approach.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>This might be a dumb question but are the included microphones decent enough? In my way younger CB radio days the mic was the first thing you upgraded<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, thanks for taking the time to read through this and many, many thanks to those who take the time to answer (and many thanks to everyone in BARS who also made me feel welcome)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">73s,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Rick Heckbert<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">W1OLU<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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