We had a new ham just get his general and he purchased an Alinco from HRO for less than $500 new. I've talked to him on 20, 40 and 80 meters and it sounds good. It is an Alinco DX-SR8T Transceiver. Some hams don't care for the Alinco brand, but I don't see anything wrong with it. He set it up as a base in his ham shack and uses an OCF antenna about 40 feet off the ground. You will need a power supply for it. Plus, down the road, the Alinco is a mobile radio and you could put it in your vehicle.
Thanks Marshall, KE4ZNR, 73 and hopefully I'll hear you over IRLP one day. Whats your local node if you have IRLP? Maybe I can reach out your way someday
Sadly most of my radio activity these days is during the day on the job. If you ever find yourself in Central NC feel free to drop me an email and we will give you a tour of the radio shop!
Happy Hamming!
Marshall KE4ZNR
Oh, Idk if I'll ever find my way out there, but you never know! 73 from Massachusetts, my local repeater IRLP node is 4133 (W1MRA NE gateway node, 449.925). Drop a call my way some time.
It can get a little frustrating with the wait sometimes. It may not be an FCC problem though. It may be that the VE who proctored your test got behind in submitting your results. It may be worthwhile to contact the VE if you can to see when it got submitted. Most likely though, it'll show up in a day or two.