Yeah, but the OP has a whole working PC for $6.  And he's keeping that PC out of the landfill by using it.   He's saved a bunch of money and done something "green" at the same time.

You're welcome to your opinion.  But a WHOLE bunch of us would disagree.

BTW, KJ6AMF has a good point about linux; you can also get older versions of most distributions, that will run on older hardware.  Linux is FREE, and it's better than Windows in a lot of ways, besides.  :-)   It's a win-win IMO! 

I can see why you'd be less than pleased with a review like that.  But my guess is that the moderators have all they can handle even WITHOUT having to decide who is competent to review what piece of gear.  And even if the moderators DID decide they could read all the reviews and delete any they don't feel are worth propagating, then you'd have people angry that their reviews were deleted, and probably eager to discuss that with the moderators.

I think the best way to grade the reviews is for each of us to decide how much weight to give to any particular review, the way we've been doing since before the web

FLDIGI does RTTY just fine!  And it ought to run on that old box.  And CONGRATULATIONS to the original poster for recycling electronics in the best possible way--keeping it out of the landfill by USING it!   And thanks to VA7CPC for being rational about it instead of picking at the OP.   I've got several old PCs that still work just fine for the various applications I've got them on, and you may safely ignore the naysayers!

Wow--your first mobile CW QSO, and the young fella's first-ever CW QSO!  I'm guessing there were big grins on both ends of the contact!

I've got two cheap Casio watches, they were around $20 each--one in the car for mobile HF and one in my shack.  They set themselves to WWVH (always accurate), they're solar-powered (no batteries), and the "dual zone" feature lets me leave them set to GMT.   The only downside is that they're small (harder for old eyes to read at times).  These  suit my needs really well, FWIW.

Daz, sorry if I flamed your panties.  What your post looked like to many of us was blatant advertising, in an inappropriate forum, of a type usually coming from a shill for the manufacturer.  This is something most of us Old Pharts dislike rather intensely.

I'd also be willing to bet you could make at least as good antenna for 25% of the price you paid for a store-bought antenna, but that's an entirely different argument, and you've suffered enough for now. ;-)

Apologies are offered to the extent that they are necessary, and welcome.  73!  --ken

John, what I do is tune in on someone I'm going to call.  I set FLDIGI to CW mode, and that puts a marker at 700Hz on the waterfall--700Hz is a standard offset for CW, though most rigs will let you make the offset anything you like.  So I tune so my target station is right exactly on the 700Hz mark on the waterfall, and since my rig is also set for 700Hz offset, I'm pretty close to being zero-beated!  (Zero beaten?) 

By the way, M0LEP is absolutely right; different people learn by different methods.  I promise you this, though:  Once you can recognize all the characters, and start making a few on-air QSOs using code, your skill at it will SKYROCKET.   Just MHO but there's no practice/learning method even close to actually using code on the air--and it's FUN, besides!  :-)   GL 73!  --ken

John, I imagine some people just hope you'll really learn the code and not continue to rely on machine help for copying.  Me, I use FLDIGI for RTTY and PSK, and I started using it for CW when I realized how easy it is to zero-beat a CW signal with the waterfall display.  :-)  I leave FLDIGI running pretty much all the time now, and I sometimes find it useful for "hearing" things that I missed.   My CW skills are way down from 20+ years ago, and I mostly write just the other guy's call plus the time/date and frequency, but sometimes that FLDIGI screen shows me that the other guy sent something I didn't register just copying in my head.  (My wife would say "copying in *what's left* of your head.")  

Anyway, I think if using a mechanical copying aid helps you at all, GO FOR IT!  And congratulations on putting in the effort, too!  CW can be a world of fun, and if you're interested in DX you'll NEED to know code, besides.    So have fun and keep working on it!

73 GL!  --ken

Angkor Wu, my friend, your English is MUCH MUCH better than most American hams' Chinese!    And we are glad to have hams from all around the world taking part in the discussions on eham.net!  73!  --ken ac4rd

I tried mobile CW about a year ago, Mike.  It was fun but I've got moderately heavy traffic a lot of the time, and I just wasn't comfortable about it.  It might have been different if I'd gotten a memory keyer in the car along with the sideswiper.   

You're likely to hear some comments about the ATAS ...     But I say any antenna is better than NO antenna.  And mobile HF can be a lot of fun, as you say.  Now you've got to post another message when you've had a chance to use your new installation, let us know how it's going!  73!
  --ken

Bells, to keep it under $400 *and* make sure you get a radio that works right, getting to know the local hams is probably what you need to do.  You have a better chance of finding a good rig at a good price if you do it face-to-face with people you know.

FWIW, just about any reasonably modern HF rig will probably be great for you.  Here in my area, I see nice possible rigs around or under $400 now and then in the ads.  You may need to do some looking around, waiting, and talking to other hams, to find one.

Good luck!  --ken

Very very true!

My first HF rig was an old Heathkit SB-104, that was already somewhere around 16-20 years old when I got it.  When I got a more modern rig, I gave that Griefkit to a newly licensed friend ... and HE gave it to yet another new ham.  Last I heard, that old rig was STILL working and giving someone some fun.

My IC-706 seemed like a lot of money when it was new, but it's now in the FOURTH car I've owned since I bought that radio.  It has given me countless hours of fun and pleasure while commuting and traveling, and it's still going strong.

New rigs only seem like a lot of money when you're buying them--a good rig can last a LONG time.  :-)

Gee, I've worked LZ from my car a bunch of times, and usually get a 59 signal report.  Does that mean my mobile antenna is two s-units better than the antenna you wrote the blatant advertising for?

At least you could have posted that in "reviews" ...

I join, cut, and re-joint long pieces of antenna wire all the time; it's no problem at all.  Clean the wire ends gently, make a good solid mechanical connection between the wires, and then solder them.   (I use a little tiny butane torch--works great for that sort of thing.)

I've bought a bunch of refurb gear over the years--computers, consumer electronics, cameras, and such.  My TS-480 is a refurb from Ham City, saved me a bunch.  The only time I've had a problem was with a negative scanner from B&H Photo.  I told them it didn't work and they sent me another one, zero problems.  Just MHO but refurb gear can be a real bargain, and as you say, it's just been checked by service people.   :-)   GL 73!  --ken