The dual 3-500ZG amp doesn`t deliver full output in cw no matter how hard you drive it. The HF-2500 draws 25 amps? That seems excessive for 1500 watt output. Curious what the `8877 draws.

Bart,You won`t be disappointed with the AL-80B. I have the older "A" version. The wattmeter on the "B" version is much better,very accurate. Much of a tube`s life depends on how well it was made. W8JI has stated that 50% of new 811`s and 572`s arriving from China are defective! Yes 50%. I wouldn`t touch them with a 10 foot pole. Even with a warrenty. It`s not just the power output that`s important,it`s that the 3-500Z is so much better. You really can`t overdrive them,the grids can take quite a bit. They`re not usually damaged by momentary power "spikes". Good luck with it.

FT-600? I remember seeing ads for this but never heard anything about it. A mil-spec designed rig for the ham bands circa 1990`s?

I guess I`m in the minority here,but I like seeing ham related equipment. I don`t mind if it`s tubes,crystals,connecters,etc. The last hamfest I attended had about 4 actual usable ham items. They were,a like new TS-450S,an SB-1000 with spare 3-500Z,and an HW-8 in great shape. The rest of the tables I saw were,cb`s,cb amps,old phones,military radios,toys,stereos,dvd players,dvd`s, books,microwaves,toasters,etc. Nobody said you had to have empty tables,but why not fill them all with ham items and let the person with the old TS-820S have a table instead of the guy selling tee shirts.

Didn`t Yaesu have a mil-spec rig in the 1990`s ? It was built with the ham bands but copied mil-specs. I just can`t remember the name. It was a rare rig,and you didn`t hear much about them. I wanna say something in the model number range of 800-900?

An AL-1500 amp might give you 500 watts out with 10 in,maybe.Not sure what 5 watts drive would do though. That`s a 15db gain amp,which you would need to accomplish that. Alinco makes a rig that will do true qrp to 100 watts.

I have had dx call me as far up as 14.050. I`ve also had U.S. hams call me in the extra subband on cw.

It`s hard to believe today,but years ago some hams have actually been fined for sending the "dit dit" on cw after the end of a qso. If you worked someone,then signed his call followed by yours,then "dit dit", it`s obvious it`s you that`s sending the dits. That`s strict! That was then though.

The HM-133 mic on that rig sometimes has a problem with the ptt switch. I`ve had to take mine apart and spray some contact cleaner on the switch a couple times to restore proper transmit/receive operation,but it does work if you do that.

If you only have fm capability you could try around 29.600 simplex. You won`t hear many 10m fm repeaters unless there`s a band opening,or you`re near a local repeater. The same applies to 6m fm. The 6m  fm national calling freq. is 52.525. Most people on 6 or 10m are using ssb. If you don`t have ssb capability I`d try fm simplex on or near those frequencies.

I don`t know what it is about Southern CA,but their repeaters take it to a different level. The control op,K6GE is just as guilty. There`s no reason that machine should be on the air with that stuff going on. Just a bunch of immature potheads getting high and jamming themselves.

Pushing the C button in row J of the menu activates and deactivates the keyer. With it deactivated you should be in straight key mode. Note:you only press this button for a moment(not more than 1 second)to do this. If it`s off the triangle icon to the left of KYR will disappear.

I have `570SG and I agree with John that it is a noisier front end rig. Even with no antenna connected there is a lot of white noise. The af based dsp does work very well though. I too would go with the `480.

Most all rfi problems today are from signal overload. If your antenna is too close to a neighbor`s house for example. Chances are you stand a greater risk of causing rfi to your own house.  In the days of broadcast reception,I used to tear up our tv and phone on 49 mhz. Since going to cable tv and 5.7? 5.8? ghz phone no more rfi/tvi.

The `897,`817ND are fine rigs but I would never rely on internal battery packs as my only source of power. They won`t hold a charge for any length of time. You would need an external battery at the very least. Most all rigs draw at least 1 amp or more on receive,even the `817 is not that efficient on receive. Dedicated qrp rigs draw much less current on receive so it pays to "shop around." For backpacking I would consider a rig like the Norcal 40,or any monoband rig. The Small Wonder series rigs are an excellent value.