New Radio

As a result of my trip to Dayton to the Hamvention, I did acquire a new radio.  I didn't actually purchase it at the show but I did compare all the radios on my list and make a decision.

I wound up with a Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver.  For non-hams, that is about a Buick in the Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac scheme of things, not the top of the line, but not the base unit either.  The word "transceiver" comes from "transmitter" and "receiver" since this radio has both functions built in to one case.

The upper picture shows the complete radio and the lower picture the TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD display.  Interestingly, the meter with the needle is not really a meter but a digital representation of a meter.

Transmitters are relatively simple devices and most of them do about the same thing, receive an audio signal from your microphone, convert it to radio frequency (rf) energy, and transmit it out.  However, the key to a good radio is not the transmit function but how well it receives a signal.  The receive function is the justification for my purchase of this new radio.  It has a much better receiver than my old FT950 which was still a good radio.

I was fortunate enough to sell the FT950 to a new ham in Oklahoma City.  It will make him a nice radio to learn with.  As for me, I think I'm about done for a while!