Looking For A Low Cost Transciever

   Some of today’s ham radios can be very expensive. For example a  Yaesu FT-897D is an awesome radio, but can be a little expensive for the Ham Radio Operator starting out in the hobby. If it is in your ballpark of expenses then I would say to go for it. It has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 at Eham.net and has at present about 358 reviews. Here is a link to the Eham.net website http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/14 .  That's not a bad rating at all. I did read some of the reviews and they were not bad at all. Of course you do get the person that just had a bad experience with and it's normal for that to happen. As with all electronic devices murphy's law always holds true.
  

Kenwood TS-2000 no author

By Jeff Davis (originally posted to Flickr as Kenwood TS-590S) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  Another Yaesu HF radio that I like is the Yaesu FT-450D . It is not a big radio, but does the job. Here is an excellent link to a you tube video about it http://youtu.be/xenOt9jSK7I . Again this radio pulls a 4.6 out of 5 review rating at Eham.net and that’s with about 91 reviews at the present time. I like the radio, because it is not a big huge radio and it would be easy to fit in the shack. One of the nice advantages is to use it in your RV or in your vehicle. It may be a possible radio for me in the future.

                                                     Yaesu FT-450D

 

By Alex Alfenas (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

                                  Yaesu FT-450 similar to the FT-450D

By Adambro (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

                                                     Icom IC-718

By Kjell, SM0FOB [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  Now if money is an object I would recommend looking at the   Icom IC-718. A picture of the icom ic-718 can be seen above.  It is a good starter radio and is not as expensive. Again it is not a huge radio, but carries a good rating at Eham.net at 4.6 out of 5. There are at present 398 reviews, which shows it is a popular radio. For the most part the reviews were okay, but like I said my feeling is that it is more of a beginner radio. With its smaller size it could be a nice addition to an RV.

By Dave Clausen [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  If you are looking for a good used radio, then I would suggest checking out ebay. There are quite a few good buys at ebay. I would suggest to check out the seller before purchasing any item. You can usually see the sellers percentage rating and check out reviews for the seller. Here is a link to ham radios where you can bid on some or you can buy   Ham Radios at EBAY .


                                                    Alinco DX77E

By OnkelJohn (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

                                                    Icom IC-746

By Denis ApelDenis Apel at de.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en)], from Wikimedia Commons

  Once again here is a link to the Eham.net website where you check out the reviews and look for whatever information you need http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/14 . You may click on any of the links above to check out information on the mentioned item. I hope that any of the above information is helpful.
  Thank You for reading from Dan KC2YTI  73s.