I strongly recommend joining a local club and getting involved with them.
There should be plenty of people willing to help and even let you try out
their gear to get a feel for it. Also it is kind of nice to have someone
mentor you through your initial CW contacts. You should be able to find a
club by checking the ARRL website. If there appears to be nothing there,
use an internet search machine and type in the name of your nearest medium
to large city with the words amateur radio. For example, when I moved into
this area, I typed in Detroit area amateur radio and found a club in
the nearest suburb to where I lived.


I plan to start off with low-power CW and need to know what equipment
I'll need to get started. I searched the archives, but did not get
much solid info.



Minimum:
Radio, antenna, and straight key. The antenna will need to be matched
to the frequency on which you will be operating.

Optional
Multiband antenna with an antenna tuner, electronic keyer and paddle.


I plan on getting a basic "learning transceiver" off eBay to begin
with, then after I know what options I need and learn more, I'll get a
new one.



Unless you are an experienced eBay user, I would recommend joining a local
club and buying of a local club member or getting one of them to advise you
and buying at a local hamfest.

I've gotten good stuff off there BUT "It worked the last time I turned it
on" can also mean "before I dropped it down the basement stairs". eBay is
very much a buyer beware situation.


What features will I need to be able to start to do low-power CW, and
is there a preferred brand or model to look for?


Low power CW transceivers are often only single band with almost no
additional features. But they are simple and easy to use. I hear that MFJ
makes some good ones.

Actually, I recommend getting a used standard HF transceiver. You will have
a decent selection of features to try out and it will be ready to go as you
get more experience and when/if you decide to upgrade. It can be used for
the 10 meter voice & data modes that you will be eligible for as well as the
15m, 40m, and 80m CW privileges that you will have. Kenwood, Icom, and
Yeasu are all good brands. I would personally recommend something new
enough that it doesn't use vacuum tube finals as they require that you tune
up the radio itself before transmitting plus if you don't follow proper
procedures, you can easily damage those tubes. On the other hand, many new
people have started successfully with older tube type radios.

I can recommend the Kenwood TS-130 series, TS-140 series, TS-430 series,
TS-440 series among the older, out of production radios. Also a nice
current production radio that you should be able to easily find used at a
reasonable price is the Kenwood TS-50 mobile transceiver. These should all
be available at reasonable prices. I'm not as familiar with Icom or Yeasu
but they made similar radios. There was a Yeasu 757 series (I think) and a
767 series that were both well thought of.

Again I recommend finding a club and getting the help of an experienced ham.
Plus in a club there will be different people personally experienced with
radios from different makers and you will have the opportunity to try some
of them out. Most hams are friendly people and will gladly help you learn
about equipment (and show off their own!).

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE



You suggestions make alot of sense. I'll look for a halfway decient rig
to get started.

MikeB