[Jeffhs]

Even though I live in an apartment and use Echolink as my primary amateur radio station installation (for HF), I still have an Icom IC-725 100-watt nine-band rig, now in storage. This transceiver is about the size of an overgrown cigar box, has a general-coverage receiver (0.5-30 MHz) and can operate CW, USB, LSB, and, with an optional module, FM (on the 29-MHz ten-meter repeater segment). The rig receives AM out of the box but requires another optional module to transmit in that mode. For CW, the rig will work well out of the box, but for the best experience I suggest getting the optional 500-Hz CW filter. I got the filter for mine because I was an avid CW operator at my former home; the filter is still installed, so if I should ever decide to sell the rig it will be all set for CW, with the 0.5-kHz filter and 100 watts input. I worked many states and a handful of countries with this radio, into a 70-foot all-band dipole in my back yard, and I miss it.

Echolink is fine -- it keeps me on the air on HF, but I still miss working CW with the Icom rig. However, since I made up my mind long ago that I would never own a home (long story) and cannot ground my HF rig for DC in my apartment due to almost all-plastic piping and no access to the copper water pipes in the basement of the apartment building (I have a 10-40-meter indoor antenna by Barker and Williamson, so antennas are not an issue), a standard HF station is out of the question, which is why my HF rig is now in a large box in a corner of my bedroom.

For Bill R.: Glad to hear you are so close to getting on the air. In almost four decades in ham radio (got my Novice license in 1972, Tech in 1975, General 1985 to now), I've heard and read a lot of good things about the rig you have, and the Astron power supplies are a good match for them as well. I have an Astron RS-35 supply I use with my Icom rig, and never had five minutes worth of trouble with it -- except for one time when I had to replace the power cord because my cat chewed it up. AFAIK, the supply still works, although since it has been largely unused the last 12 years I am beginning to wonder how good the filter caps are anymore. One of the last things I want or need is to get an Official Observer notice, or worse, an FCC citation, because my signal had 60-Hz hum caused, yup, you guessed it, by failing or already defective 12-year-old filters.