After passing my General Class exam I began to search for my first HF Radio. I was fortunate enough to find someone selling a ICOM-735 (w/ the plastic door) for $100, I negotiated down to $90 and picked up the rig the next day. Living on the Chesapeake Bay and being an avid sailor it was only natural that my first radio would come from a fellow sailor. He had just purchased a new boat and readying to make his passage to the Caribbean prior to the winter settling. He had just purchased a new ICOM 706MKII for his upcoming passage while outfiting his new boat.
Not knowing if the unit worked first hand I purchased it on a chance. Once I got home I connected it to a 12V power supply and she powered up. Next I fabbed up a homemade dipole cut for 20M. This did not work out, mostly due to lack of patience and wanting to get on the air, without a good plan. It worked great for RX at only 4' up it did well on 20M, 40M, and 80M.
Although, I now had a radio, I did not have a good plan to get on the air (mode, antenna, etc).
Check out my next blog for my original plan (after not having a plan to start).
--Chris
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