[AFreeBird]

I have a question perhaps you could answer. Another recent thread was posted about HAM in a net shutdown scenario, and it got me to looking around at rigs (I'm not a HAM at present), and was checking out Kenwood (Always like their stereo equipment), and noticed they had a mobile base (figure a 12V mobile capable rig might be appropriate for a SHTF scenario), the ST-480SAT/HX. It's listed as a HF 160-6, or HF plus 6 meter.

Can you explain what 160-6 means? Does it cover bands from 6 meters to 160 or what?

The ST-480's look like nice rigs, lots of very positive reviews. But I'm just thinking about taking the plunge at this point.

[Clinging Bitterly]

TS480SAT looks like a nice rig. When I was first licensed the TS520 series was one of the most popular rigs on the market. They had a well rounded feature set and very good TX and RX audio quality. The original version had both AC and DC power supplies built in so it was compact even though a full size form factor by not having the extra box next to it. They were very low priced, and it also helped that they were pretty looking (to a radio geek at least) but I digress.

While the 480SAT is a nice rig it is expensive. Looking at the brochure I see it is being marketed to DXers and it does offer a the modern features a DXer would want to have. If your primary interest is to have something that's readily transportable and usable anywhere, you can do that for a lot less money. Plenty of used rigs going on Ebay for $250 or so are quite capable in that regard - and going that route one wouldn't feel so bad if the rig should become damaged by some mishap while being transported or operated in not so nice conditions. Not to mention a less complex rig will be easier to operate, especially in a situation where there are multiple operators.

160-6 does mean, in this case the rig covers all Ham bands from 160M to 6M

And I like the idea of putting HF/VHF/UHF in one box. This one doesn't go far enough in that regard, only going up to 6M. But it is more tailored for the DXer as I said, and it includes 6M because that's the highest band that has predictable openings (at the proper time in the sunspot cycle, which as many of us know, is definitely not now).

For a tactical solution you would want HF/VHF/UHF capability at hand, and though not necessary, having all bands in one package will make things easier on the operator in many ways. Of course there are disadvantages too, chief among them the inability of multiple operators to simultaneously operate on multiple bands.

Still, for a good example of such a rig, check out the Yaesu FT-857D.