[BARC-List] Taking CW + General exam Monday... Advice on HF station?

[Thomas Tuttle]

Hello.

I'm planning to take the General written test and the CW test on
Monday to finally upgrade my Tech Plus to a General Class license.  (I
took the CW test once before, about 3 years ago, but the CSCE has long
expired.)

I'm looking for some advice on building a decent HF/VHF/UHF station on
the cheap.  I have the surface and eaves of the roof of a 28 foot
(outside) or 24 foot (inside) square house to use for antennae.  (I
can't run things into the backyard, and probably not up much beyond
the roof.)  I don't have anything purchased yet (except my 2m HT), so
I pretty much have to buy everything: power supply, transceiver,
antenna tuner, power supply for antenna tuner (if separate), feed
line, antenna hardware, antenna wire, and so on.  I do have an FT-707,
FC-707, and matching power supply, although those are borrowed from
someone and need to be returned.

For a radio, I would like to find something that can do HF+6m+2m+70cm
(so something beyond the bottom-level IC-718/TS-50/FT-840 rung) but
doesn't cost a bundle.  The FT-847D and IC-706MKIIG are both basically
what I want; the 847 is much cheaper (by $300-$400).  I'd prefer an
automatic antenna tuner but if someone can convince me that manual
ones aren't really annoying and are much cheaper I could get one
instead.  For an antenna I've been considering either a fan dipole
running out from the chimney or a wire loop running around the
perimeter of the roof.

I'm okay with used equipment as long as it's relatively new (current
or previous generation) and not beat up.

So, I'm asking if anyone has any of these things lightly used and/or
if anyone can give me some general guidance in how to get my first HF
station set up.  (Things like, if you make a wire loop that goes
around the roof, can you use unbalanced feedline, if you do will it
kill your signal with cable loss, and how the shield and core (or two
sides of ladder line) actually attach to the loop.)

73's and tnx de KB1EVZ

-- 
Thomas Tuttle
http://thinkinginbinary.webhop.net/
thinkinginbinary at gmail.com
AIM: thinkinginbinary