Radios and radios

Tonight there are multiple lines of storms moving through the area, so not a good radio night. That makes it a good time to update the blog.

Unfortunately, summer is often tough for HF radio, too much static. Although I'm listening on 40 meters and hearing quite a bit above the noise level

I promised to talk about radios a little. In the last 10 years I've been active in radio again, I've found myself buying and selling a lot of radios.

Here are a couple of my favorites, that I'm running these days. The Icom 765 was a high-end rig when it was new in the early 90s. The receiver is as good as any I've ever listened to, and it's just a nice big radio to operate. Lots of knobs and buttons, so no menus to scroll through to set things up. If you want to adjust something, turn the knob. It's got a big, heavily weighted tuning knob, so it's just nice to use. I dont' know how else to describe it. I like it so much, I sold my number one rig, an Icom 756Pro III a month ago. I liked it, but just didn't use it much so I got rid of it before the price started dropping on it.

Notice the paddles in front of the radio. On the left is a Begali -- the best. Made in Italy, it just has the nicest touch of any paddle I've ever used. My second favorite is the Kent next to it. I've had it about 10 years, and it was my everyday paddle until I picked up the Begali last year.