Antenna need fpr new radios.

[W9DEC]

I currently have a Kenmore 590s and a ICOM 880h. The 590 is coupled to a Hustler 6BTV vertical with 40 ground radials and the ICOM is hooked to a Comet 2 meter antenna. I am planning to purchase a ICOM 7100 which will cover all bands. I plan to keep all three radios and I would like to know what I should do as far as antennas and switchers. I possibly might pull the 880h out and use it as a mobile. I would mainly use the 7100 for d star 2 meter and possibly HF dv, while the Kenwood is for HF.I appreciate your input.
73

[N3WAK]

W9DEC: 

I have to tell you--your question is really wide-open.  There are so many possibilities based on what bands you want to operate on, what kind of room for antennas you have, how much power you're using, your price range or whether you intend to homebrew. 

I would suggest Googling "$4 Special Antenna" and reading that article, which is short, funny, and informative.  Then I'd buy an antenna book, like "Simple and Fun Antennas" from the ARRL.  If you read about coax vs. ladderline, vertical vs. horizontal polarization, etc., you'll be able to figure out what might work best for you. 

IMHO, if you're not too familiar with these various subjects right now, you should do some reading and then put up a simple wire, homebrewed dipole for HF.  You'll develop a tremendous amount of knowledge just by reading and then doing.  Then, you'll get a tremendous amount of satisfaction using a simple antenna which you've made yourself. 

Have fun and 73, Tony

[VE3FMC]

I currently have a Kenmore 590s and a ICOM 880h. The 590 is coupled to a Hustler 6BTV vertical with 40 ground radials and the ICOM is hooked to a Comet 2 meter antenna. I am planning to purchase a ICOM 7100 which will cover all bands. I plan to keep all three radios and I would like to know what I should do as far as antennas and switchers. I possibly might pull the 880h out and use it as a mobile. I would mainly use the 7100 for d star 2 meter and possibly HF dv, while the Kenwood is for HF.I appreciate your input.
73

Hi David

I have two HF rigs in operation in my shack. Here is how I do it, quite simple really.

Buy a good two position coax switch. Instead of feeding two antennas into the switch you are going to feed two radios into the switch, and the run of coax for your vertical will be the other coax to the switch.

So hook it up like this
TS-590  on one input of the switch
Icom 7100 on the other input of the switch.
Remember those are the normal coax inputs of the switch.

Now take a short jumper coax from the normal radio input of the switch and run that to your SWR/power meter.
From there to your tuner if you have one in line.

That settles the HF side of things. Mark the radio inputs on the coax switch to indicate which side of the switch connects the Icom and the Kenwood.

If you really want that Comet VHF/UHF antenna hooked up to your Icom 880H and the new Icom 7100 then you can duplicate the same setup. The 7100 will have an antenna port for the VHF/UHF bands. So you connect it to another two way switch the same way you did it for the HF side of the two rigs.

NEVER have both rigs turned on at the same time because if you transmit on one rig you risk taking the front end out of the other rig.

Some will tell you that the above setup is just asking for trouble when it comes to front ends of radios. But I have had four HF rigs hooked up this way and never had any trouble. I only have one radio turned on at once. I know other guys who have the same setup and have no problems.

Personally, I would just use the Icom 880H for VHF/UHF. I have an Icom 7000 and the VHF/UHF side of that radio does not perform as well as a dual band VHF/UHF rig. Unless you want to work digital modes on the VHF/UHF band I would just stick to using the Icom 880H. I have an old FT-2500 2 meter rig that I use, the Icom 7000 does not have a VHF/UHF antenna connected to it.

If you are going to use the Icom 880H in your vehicle then you would simply connect the Comet antenna to the VHF/UHF antenna port on the Icom 7100.

BTW I did not find your question confusing, it seemed pretty straight forward to me!

Your other option is to build or buy another HF multiband antenna and connect it directly to the new Icom 7100. I know a guy who has a setup like that. I was talking to him the other day on 75 M SSB and he was working PSK31 on 20 meters at the same time, using another rig.

Hope this helps you out.
73, Rick VE3FMC

[KQ6Q]

For the two radios to one antenna situation, be sure to get a coax switch with a center-off position, that grounds the unused connection. if you get a cheap switch that doesn't have enough isolation, the radio that's transmitting could overload the front end of the other radio connected to the switch.
the MFJ 1702C is a good one to use in this application.