I've had my Icom 706 since they came out, about 20 years (dang has it been that long?).
My Icom has been an excellent rig, the 706 is a full coverage HF, 6 meter and 2 meter radio, AM, FM, SSB. It is a mobile rig with a detachable face plate. I've used at a Field Day event years ago and took first place for our club on 10 meters. I believe the antenna was a Ranger 7000 at 10 meters.
It runs 100 watts out in HF, 50 watts on 6 and 10 watts on 2. The radio is loaded with features, band search, spectrum analyzer, etc.
Here's a suggestion, on a budget, starting out, find a nice clean used rig, like an Icom 706 and run it mobile or base with an 110/12 volt power supply.
Yaesu and Kenwood are also nice radios, have family that has both.
In HAM rigs, old radios that were taken care of and used by some old rag chewing phart can provide years of service. In fact I bought mine at a HAM Fest in Joplin, Mo.
Before you start investing money in gear go to a HAM club and start asking questions, go to a HAM Fest and shop. Mileage doesn't hurt a transceiver, years don't hurt them either.
When buying a used rig always fire it up, have the seller use it or run it into a dummy load. I bought a power supply from a #@!&&$* I got it home plugged it in and it smoked! IMO, buying used equipment from members of a local club will be a pretty safe bet, it's rare for a HAM to screw you over on a deal.
I got it, you 4 wheeling expedition guys all want 2 m and 70/440 cm to use as your CB, that's cool, but HAM radio is much more than rag chewing through a repeater or to the vehicle behind you. Get an HF rig! You can listen and learn about communications on HF. That also may motivate you to continue on with licensing.
I did some storm chasing for the NWS, they are on 2 meters. I did disaster work on 2 and 6 and with local hospitals on 10 meters with the Red Cross. HAM radio is a service, we don't swap cooking recipes over HAM freq. that's for CB's and FRS.
Antennas, that is a hobby in itself, on 2 meters I use my homebrewed J pole, it's great, you can find plans on line I'm sure, you make them out of copper pipe.
I also built a three element beam for 2 and another for 6 meters. For HF I use a long wire dipole with a tuner.
For those who need to go higher in the UHF bands I'd suggest you just get a cheap HT. Battery power is usually the cause of any drop in output. You can get battery adapters, plug in to the dash and you won't have that issue. Plug in an external antenna on your HT, some take an external mic. as well.
Learn how to build your own antennas, I was about 10 when I built my first dipole, I used tires off my model cars as insulators!
You get on the air cheaper than you think, after you know you're hooked then spend some money, if you lose interest then you won't be out much at all. 73's
