New Technician!
- Thread starter Jjoshjl
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Congrats. Its a lot of fun and there is always something new to learn no matter how long you have been in the hobby. As to a suggested base station, it depends on what your preferences are as to HF, VHF/UHF? Looking for local rag chewing on repeaters or maybe catching a sporadic E opening (there have been a number of them so far this summer) on 10 meters with some SSB? Maybe some low band CW? There are a number of good "bang for the buck" rigs today but without knowing what aspect of it you are interested in its hard to pinpoint anything.
Well... Mostly vhf to start... I do really want to do 10 but it seems hard finding a radio I can legally use that isn't 500. My understanding is I have to use SSB and not AM on 10 and the cheapest I've seen is an Alinco hf for 500. Most of the others are AM only... Correct me if in wrong though 
Well... Mostly vhf to start... I do really want to do 10 but it seems hard finding a radio I can legally use that isn't 500. My understanding is I have to use SSB and not AM on 10 and the cheapest I've seen is an Alinco hf for 500. Most of the others are AM only... Correct me if in wrong though
First off, congrats and welcome to the hobby!! $500 is about right for a somewhat decent (but older) used radio. If you're looking for VHF, 2m radios can be picked up dirt cheap. 2m/70cm radios aren't that bad either, used or new. Just get that, a power supply, and good and antenna and good coax, and you're pretty much good to go.
As far as AM vs. SSB, correct. Nobody uses AM anymore, outside of some AM nets. For 10m, you would want SSB for voice, USB specifically.
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