I just got back Saturday evening from a weeklong trip to Florida. It was a fantastic trip, too.
Took the family to Disney for 3 nights, then to Daytona; from there we went to Kennedy Space Center for a day, then on to Ocala and Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing (very worth the trip!).
One of the stops we made in Orlando on the way to Daytona was at AES Orlando. It was a pilgrimmage of sorts for me, having never set foot in an actual ham radio retail store.
The store wasn't much to look at. It had two towers with assorted antennas. It wasn't very fancy, but looked efficient. Also not in the nicest part of town. The building seemed to be devoted mostly to shipping orders.
Inside they appeared to have a full stock of stuff. I had a chance to play with an Icom IC-7000, which I found to be a very, very interesting rig. I really, really want one now! I've been scheming since a way to buy one.
I spent a lot of time with the new Yaesu FT-2000, which is a beautiful rig in the same class as my PRO3. It is the replacement for the Mark V series, and it's a humdinger.
Naturally I didn't try every feature, but the receiver sounded great. It appears Yaesu is going for the “fewer menus is better” market as the rigs has more than 15 knobs on the front panel and 60-plus buttons. It just plain looks good, too.
I love my Pro3 and my 746PRO, but this Yaesu just looks and feels quality. The tuning knob has a wonderful feel to it. I would miss the band scope from the Pro3, though Yaesu has an adapter to add this to the FT-2000 (monitor not included).
Maybe I'm just bored with the Pro3 … I don't know. All I can say is that I would consider an FT-2000 provided I could get a good deal for the Pro 3 I have.
The real test of any receiver is in a contest, so its hard to compare the new Yaesu with the Pro3.
I also got my hands on the IC-7000, and it appears to be a Pro3 in a small package. VERy nice rig indeed!!
It's late and I'm very tired. More stuff on my next update!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … dit dit