First of all. What happed to rec.radio.amateur? It is not supported on
my server.

Second. I was a ham back in the 90s. I have been inactive since 1996.
I had lots of gear and sold it all because I was tired of the hobby.
I am beginning to regret selling some of it. I had some really nice
antenna tuners, Heathkit SM220, nice TenTec radios, VHF/UHF all mode
all the way up to 1.2G, etc. All gone.

I just acquired a Kenwood 520 to listen to the HF bands. It seems
like a nice basic radio that will do for a while. I really would like
to get on 80m but I don't have the room for a 80m dipole. Is the
matching Kenwood tuner a good one? I think it will be a while before
any good hamfests because of the Wx in chicago.

I researched rigs on line and so far I like the Icom 746 Pro but
I'm not ready to spend that kind of cash.

I was also told that I can upgrade to Extra with just a written
test. Since my license expires in 2 years it seems like the thing
to aim for.

I still have a couple of ham friends so I will probably pick their
brains, but I open to suggestions!

chuck
K1CAS