[PVRCNC] Serious Question: What rig would you recommend?

[Kent Winrich]

OK, after being on the road for nearly 3 years, and through a divorce,  I
am back home and ready to rebuild the shack.  I have been using my FT857 on
the road, but of course not a good radio for contesting.  I fired up
my trusty old TS940 yesterday, only to find that 40 and 20M are not
receiving... work to be done.

In all seriousness, I would love to hear from the experts out there, what
would you recommend for a mid priced rig.  Umm ya please dont go suggesting
the FT5000, not gonna happen.  Something around the $1100 mark (ala FT1000,
etc)

I know this may set a fire storm of ICOM vs Yaseu vs Icom etc.  But there
is a lot of experience in this group that could be very helpful in getting
back on the rails again.

I would also like to hear what you are using for a radio interface.

In the meanwhile, I am working on antennas, laying ground radials for my
DX88, getting my tower back up, cleaning up the tribander, and looking at a
element 40m vertical phased array.

Looking forward to the advise and thank you for your time!

Kent
K9EZ