Jim,

Congratulations on the new ticket!

Well I would suggest that you look at some of the late 1970's and 80's
vintage rigs to start. Much of this gear is very capable for basic
station use (CW and SSB) and may even serve you well on some of the
sound card based digital modes. I found a very nice Yaesu FT-101zd at
an estate sale for $75 that covers 160-10 meters (sans 60 Meters) that
only required some minor repairs that I could do myself. Attend your
local radio club meetings and ask around, check E-bay and the local
news papers for possible sources. Be patient and you should be able
to get a very nice fully working rig for $300 or even less if you
don't mind fixing it.

On the antenna budget I wouldn't know what to say except that the a
good antenna can make a modest rig great and a bad antenna can make
even the best rig worthless. Buying expensive antennas usually isn't
"you get what you pay for" in terms of performance either so be
careful here. Generally speaking, the larger and longer the antenna
is, the more performance it will have. If you have the space and are
allowed to put up antennas outside, I would suggest you build some
wire antennas to start. If you can put up a G5RV or some other multi-
band antenna you might be able to have a lot of fun at a pretty low
cost. I think you can buy prebuilt versions of this antenna for under
$200 or build your own for somewhat less. By all means, spend the
time and money necessary to get an antenna system that performs well,
or no amount of money spent on the rig will help you.

I'll warn you that with the sun spot cycle being at the low end, it
will be a number of years before HF will be as active as it's been on
the higher frequency bands for long haul communications. This means
that you may want to concentrate on the 80-40 meter bands from an
antenna perspective right now as the higher frequency bands may be
limited to mostly local communications for the time being. (You don't
have privileges as a Tech on 160 Meters if I recall correctly so we
can forget that band for now.)

Other items you may want to consider in your budgeted items include:

1. Ground rods and ground wiring to get the best RF station ground
possible.
2. Antenna "tuner" (If one is not included in the rig you buy)
3. 12 V DC power supply (if your purchased rig is DC powered)
4. Coax and connectors (For making up jumpers and antennas)

Most of this stuff can be liberated from hamfests and junk sales
fairly cheaply, or purchased online from a number of places.

-= bob =-

On Sep 21, 2:50 pm, wrote:
I am a newly licensed technician, study for the general exam. I plan to
purchase an HF rig soon and would appreciate suggestions on a good starter
rig. I am budgeting $800 for a rig and antenna. I would be happy with a good
used rig but I am not sure where to start looking for information.

Thanks,

Jim KI6ISQ