[Icom] 706 MkII or TS-50 for Mobile HF?

[John O. Newell]

> The IC-706 Mk II is discontinued

Yup...part of the interest in the MkII/not G is what looks
like a favorable balance among price, required bands, and
performance.  I did read the ARRL reviews, and noted their
text comments and quantitative results across the three
flavors of the 706.  The G does seem to offer some further
improvements...but the lab numbers don't always translate
into real world differences!

It would be revealing to hear from someone either that "I
had the MkII and bought a G and couldn't believe the
difference" or "I had a Mk II and traded it for a TS-50 and
couldn't believe the difference" or something like that. 
Having read all the ARRL reviews and all (ugh! <g>) the eHam
comments (well, some only got skimmed!), I don't think I'm
going to hear any of that...probably just get confirmation
that it's a close call on the air, that there are big
differences in the control interface, and that the KW
doesn't have the detachable faceplate!

Someone prove me wrong? <ggg>

73
John
KB1FPM