[Icom] New vs. used equipment

[AL7HG]

I have been a ham for over 25 years and rarely, if
ever, buy new equipment. Like buying a new car, the
minute you plug in a new radio, it loses A LOT more
than a car, so let someone else take THAT hit.

You should watch the trader's online classifieds, one
I use a LOT is www.qth.com. You will see a lot of ads
there for nice rigs at a discount.

Shortly after the Icom 756 Pro II came out, at $2,900,
plus tax in the U.S. I saw one on www.qth.com, for
$2,000! One month old and obviously the owner was not
happy with it. Actually, talking to him later, via
email, he was a BIG rig person and did not like the
rig's weight and feel.

I 'ordered' the rig from him and held my breath, for
that kind of savings, and for such a popular rig, I
was afraid it might be a scam.

To make things worse, I work in Saudi Arabia, so the
entire transaction was handled from there -- and the
radio shipped to my qth in Florida. Which meant that
the rig would arrive in Florida about four months
before I would get back home to see what it looked
like -- and kept me in suspense for that amount of
time.

I had nightmares, well maybe not quite that bad, but
at LEAST visions of arriving back in Florida and
discovering that Icom box had nothing in it but a
brick, or that the "like-new" rig had been somehow
damaged, or did not work.

When I got home and opened the box it contained a
pristine Icom 756 Pro II. The rig was so new and in so
great condition that you couldn't tell it had ever
been put on the air! Not only that the display still
had the clear plastic on the front -- hated to remove
it.

The Pro II is a nice rig, for years I have been a
Kenwood person (before that Yaesu) so I agree with the
first owner of this rig that it is awful light and
plastic, but it seems to hear fine.

Another of my favorite rigs, which I also have now, is
an Icom 706 MK II G. I traded an older Kenwood radio
for this one when I anticipated going on a LONG
camping trip, which never materialized. I am amazed at
this radio, because of the coverage you have in
receive; and of course the fact that you have HF, VHF
and 440. For a multi-purpose rig I would recommend it,
and I have seen these on the above classified site for
around $500.

73
Dave, AL7HG

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