"Simon Smith" wrote in message ...
I am soon to take the Foundation licence test and I'm considering either an
Icom TS50 or the Icom IC - 703.
I dony know enough yet to come to a decision - What in the opinion of the
newsgroup would be a wise choice for a complete Novice ?
I realise the learning will continue AFTER I get the pass certificate - but
I dont want to make an expensive mistake before I even get started....
Any help would be most welcome....

I've had a Kenwood TS-50 for years. It's a basic, very rugged and
reliable good performer. Other HF xcvrs come and go here but my TS-50
is a keeper. I've used it for both fixed station and pack 'n go
operations and have never had a problem with it. Which is more than I
can say about some other much more expensive xcvrs I've used.

I don't have any hands-on experience specifically with an IC-703 but I
have used other Icom compact xcvrs. I'm completely underwhelmed by
their strong-signal handling capability. While the TS-50 is not a
"competition grade" xcvr it's receiver front-end is much better than
the any of front ends of compacted Icom xcvrs I've used so far. As a
CW dxer front end performance matters particularly in the pileups so
I'm rather fussy about how much overload and intermod I'll put up
with. The TS-50 is acceptable here on this basis but the baby Icoms
are not.

The 703 is a nice package which includes an autotuner, a memory keyer
and here in the U.S. it can operate on six meters. It's also
considerably more complex than the TS-50. For those who are big into
fiddling with bells and whistles. The TS-50 on the other hand is a
bare-bones basic HF xcvr without a tuner, keyer or 6M.

In your case as a soon-to-become 10 watt Foundation licensee you might
look ahead to the day when you upgrade and will be allowed to use much
higher powers. With a 703 you'll still be stuck with ten watts out.
With a TS-50 you'd be able change one menu setting and go from 10W to
100+W out on the spot.

Hre's a couple links to user reviews which you might find interesting.

TS-50: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/411xed

IC-703 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2787

John

w3rv

(Brian Kelly) wrote:
I've had a Kenwood TS-50 for years. It's a basic, very rugged and
reliable good performer.

I'll second that. My TS50 is ten years old this year. For several years (94 thru
99) it was permanently mounted /m (actually bolted with large bolts to deter
theft) to the top of my dashboard, usually sitting directly in the Arizona
desert sun. Never had a problem. These days it sits pretty much unused as a
backup rig, but still works just fine. My only complaint with that rig was that
the sidetone level could only be adjusted internally. Fortunately it wasn't too
hard to add that knob...