[Yaesu] Best $600 contest rig

[Steve Harrison]

At 01:04 PM 9/24/2006 -0400, kd4e wrote:
>Renee wrote:
>> I would say a Drake TR7. I have used one for such in the past and it 
>> performed quite well. Wouldn't mind having one again.
>> 73
>> Renee NZ9T
>
>The Drake TR-7 was way ahead of its time and still
>is a fine rig for about any Ham application!

I TRIED using one of those in a CW contest from a friend's place who had
nice big yagis, back in the early '80s. It was super-deaf yet couldn't cope
with big guns within a few kc, and I could barely hear the sidetone.
Super-frustrated, I gave up after some hours, drove home, yanked my old
hollow-state Eldico twins off my desk, brought them back, and proceeded to
wow my friend with almost a thousand Qs through the rest of the contest. He
sold that POS TR-7 shortly thereafter  ;o))))))))))

I had a lotta fun with that old Eldico setup; wish I hadn't had to sell it
and my FT757GX to buy a crib when we were expecting our first baby
;o((((((((((  Had even more fun with the 757 operating CW mobile in my ole
'79 Cutlass; that turned out to be my last major mobile setup but I'm about
to do it again sometime this winter, I think.

Last weekend, I musta been way outta it as I passed on snatching up a 757
GX II for only $200 (seemed too good a deal, and I rembered the problems
I'd had with my old 757GX's AGC circuits way back when). Wanting to look
around the hamfest some more before buying it (I really needed a good
rotator more than another HF radio), I eventually got back almost an hour
later and the seller had reduced it to only ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS!!!!!
Unfortunately, there was an older couple, recent new hams of my local club,
also standing there, debating whether to buy it. After 15 minutes, they
finally shelled out their cash and took it home  ;o((((((((((((((((((((((((
 On the plus side, I did wind up with a great shape new-looking HD73 for
only $75 and an old but good shape Ham-M for $100, both with control boxes
but no cable. As mentioned yesterday, I now also have a G-450XL but the
dang thang has several stripped gears as well as two teeth broken from the
top housing. Gwan be expensive to repair it  ;o\  ;o\  ;o\  Still trying to
negotiate with the xXxx seller, who'd advertised it as "ready to go, NOT
DOA,". Yeah, sure  ;o\  ;o\  ;o\  I wudda been better off to have bought a
new one.

Steve, K0XP