What modes are people using on 10m and 6m?  I've just been
looking at a 10m AM-only TRX. I would like eventually to own
something able to receive CW and SSB on either (or both) of
these bands, but in the mean time an AM TRX is inexpensive.
There is not much point me buying it if there will be nobody
to talk to though.  I'll need to upgrade my license before I
can TX on 10m in any case.

25 responses total.

Modes I've seen used are AM, FM, SSB, CW, and even some digital.  There
is even a group of people that specifically like to use just AM, due to
the sound quality of the QSO.

There's a specific segment of the 10 meter band used for AM.  I think
it's in the General Class section for U.S. amateurs.  The dominant mode
on 10 meters is SSB, but you'll also find CW and FM.

Re #2: I recently found 29.0 to 29.2 MHz mentioned for AM on
  the ARRL 10m bandplan, which suggests that someone, some-
  where still uses AM on 10m.  I should google for other
  countries' 10m bandplans when I have more time.

  The 10m AM TRX I found for sale is affordable, but I'm
  tempted to buy a 20m AM/SSB/CW RX kit. I would also like a
  70cm HT, since I've discovered a repeater that I should be
  able to open from my home.  I suppose I need to sit down
  and think about my radio priorities.

Are you thinking of a 70cm only handheld, or a multi-band?

Re #4  I don't know.  Until recently I've looked mostly at
  single-band stuff, but now I use the Kankakee 2m repeater
  when I'm on the road, and would like to use the local 70cm
  from home.  A dual-band would give me both, but is likely
  to cost more than I can afford.

There are some rather inexpensive models available, even though they
aren't the ones with lots of bells and whistles.  Don't forget to
check out the used market.  (Hamfest, rec.radio.swat, even Ebay.)

Re #6: Which models are you thinking of?

I didn't have any particular ones in mind, just thinking about how
prices of some older models are going to be pretty low.

Maybe I should be asking what are you willing to pay for one?  That
would determine where you should look, I think.

Hi, Andy. You've probably bought something by now, but about six months
ago, I purchased a used Yaesu FT-470 for $100. It's a dual band radio
with nearly all the bells and whistles of the newer radios. It's just
bigger is all.

Two years later and I'm still window shopping.  I'm leaning
more toward a mobile than an HT now though.

When I returned to ham radio I first got an HT, but used it in my car with
a mount and a roof magmount antenna. I did eventually get a mobile too, when
I was working communications with the Red  Cross. 

I have tried using an HT as a mobile, but found it to be
sub-optimal: small radio flopping around on the end of a
piece of coax with other wires running awkwardly.  I'd be
happy with HT power output though, mobiles seem to have ten
times the power that I want (although that can be reduced on
most radios).  The sad thing is that most of the monoband
radios I find are 2m, with very limited choice for 70cm.

Is Ranger the only company that makes a multimode 6m
transceiver?  I don't need 100W, I'm not fussed about FM and
I can't afford their radio. I'd be happy with 10W (or less!)
and just SSB and CW.

Re resp:12: I actually found the extra power more useful than I thought 
it would be, especially working simplex.  With 40 watts and a 5/8-wave 
whip, you can pretty much work anything you can hear on 2 meters. 

re 13
Looking for mobile or home station?

Re #14: Well, I would like more power than my 2m HT has
  (less than 200mW on batteries, theoretically 2W on
  external DC I think). I can't open the 'local' 2m repeater
  without the aid of aluminium baking foil.  2W is probably
  more useful in CW and perhaps SSB than FM.

Re #15: A mobile, but I would probably set it up at home.

The only monoband 6m transceiver I've found that's capable of
SSB & CW is the Ranger RCI-5054DX-100, which seems nice
enough but it includes AM, FM and a 100W power amplifier,
none of which I really need.  It also costs more than I can
comfortably spend at present (although less than the multi-
band monsters).

Have you check on Ebay, Yahoo Auctions, and rec.radio.swap?  How about
local hamfests?  You can try Dayton, in about six weeks.

I've not had much luck with eBay, people tend to send me
gear with parts missing. I did look for a radio at the local
hamfest and saw an Alinco DR-M06 and a few kits that people
had built.  I was impressed at how compact the DR-M06 was,
but those are FM-only I think and then there's the worry of
what someone else might have done to it.

Ok, I can understand those concerns.  But those are a bit of the chance
you take with anything you get that isn't new.  Of course being able to
see it function prior to purchase is a good thing.

Ebay does have some availablity to handle a discrepancy with a purchase.
I don't know the details, since I don't use their service.

Right. Some things are easier for me to buy second-hand, but
I lack the test equipment (and to some extent the skill) to
diagnose, repair and align a transceiver that someone else
has abused.

For a while I've been agonising over Icom IC-V8000 (2m
mobile) and IC-T7H (2m/70cm HT). This morning though I found
myself reading about the IC-U82 (70cm HT) and it even seems
quite affordable.  I think that might do the job.

I would be happy to buy an IC-U82 to take out and about with
me.  At home I'm ready to start looking at HF.  Hams seem to
consistently recommend multiband multimode behemoths that
cost as much as my first car.  For a while I was distracted
by 6m because I'm already licensed for it, but there are
very few SSB/CW radios for 6m and they are expensive.

It's an odd thing, but I probably have illicit out-of-band
CBers to thank for the wide range of 10m mobiles available
today.  Some time ago I almost bought a "Mini Magnum" new
for US$ 80, which is still tempting but I know that I would
become frustrated at not being able to use SSB or CW and not
being able to tune the receiver around the chanellised
frequency.

Instead I'm thinking of something like the SuperStar SS-
158EDX (built by Ranger Communications), which offers CW and
SSB along with AM and FM, isn't horribly powerful and would
be simple to operate.  Okay, it has a 'roger bleep' and echo
but thankfully those can be turned off and left off.  I can
put up with the chrome.

Of course, 10m means I'll have to upgrade to General.

If this is for home use instead of mobile, consider buying a used HF 
rig.  If you don't need portability or lots of bells and whistles, 
there are some good deals out there.  I had (on loan) an old Kenwood 
rig for a while that was a hybrid -- solid state but with tube finals.    
I also owned an all-tube Drake TR-4 for a while and made some great 
contacts with it.  Frequency agility on these rigs isn't great, due to 
the need to tune up after changing frequencies, but they sound great on 
the air and there's something about that warm tube glow.

One of these days I need to get out my 10m mobile rig.  It's an older 
Ranger all-mode radio that I bought from a friend.  The front panel 
definitely says "CB" (it has a "roger beep" and a PA function, for 
crying out loud) but it's a perfectly decent radio.  My original plan 
was to work HF from my apartment, but I abandoned that after finding 
that 25 watts of SSB into a full-wave loop on my balcony was enough to 
trip nearby GFCI circuit breakers.  I figure using it mobile, instead, 
will minimize RFI problems. :)

I agree that it's too bad that there isn't a multi-mode 6m rig available,
without getting HF where the 6m is an add-on to it.  (That is a current
model, there are older ones around.)

I guess I'll have to upgrade, and/or buy used gear to get onto 6m.

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