Flex 1500 or FT-817 ?

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It could be an interesting rig. Which bands are covered?

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You know...one of those, your laptop, and one of the following:

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...rxvr/2500.html

would make quite the interesting travel ensemble...

Hum..that and my mini may become good friends.

For travel use I think I'd go with the 817 if 2M and 70CM were important to me. If I was just interested in HF and 6M, I'd get the Icom 703+ as I really like that built in antenna tuner. That said, I'm getting ready to break out the mad money and order a Flex 1500. What did you eventually get?

Hello.

5 watts, and a mobile or portable antenna?
For HF "I" feel that this is not enough power.
The reason I say this is simple.
First you are already at a disadvantage, your antenna will be where you can put it, that means no real control over where you can radiate from.
A fixed user gets to pick his location to some degree.
Second is the antenna itself, clearly a limitation.
A fixed user can erect a tower in most cases, and even that disguise flagpole and dipole is going to be far better than anything you can carry in a tote bag.
Finally is the issue of background noise, more power brings you up over the hump.
QRP is fine but limiting.
With that in mind I would suggest that you explore before you buy, see if QRP is where you want to go.

Most of my time spent on HF is done running QRP. It's not for everyone.