[KE5ZRT]

Originally Posted by K4AC

The Kenwood TS-2000 is worthy of consideration...It covers 160m-70cm, multi-mode, like the 7000...What makes it unique is that it has a separate VHF/UHF FM radio built in. This allows for operating HF on the main radio and VHF/UHF FM on the secondary at the same time...Doug K4AC

Thanks for your comments Doug! I checked out the Kenwood TS-2000 and I agree it is an awesome radio. The transporter feature allowing it to be operated remotely with an HT is especially cool. But since I am partial to Icom, I checked to see if Icom had anything comparable and I found the IC-9100 (not released for sale yet).

The IC-9100 has two independent receivers in one radio and receives two different bands simultaneously (80m/40m, 40m/440, 440/144, etc). In addition, the main and sub-band audio can be controlled with independent volume and squelch knobs, and received audio can be heard separately when external speakers are connected.

It is certainly not as pretty as the IC-7000, but I really like the features! Also, IC-9100 does 100 watts HF/VHF & 75 watts UHF, where the Kenwood is only 50 watts UHF--not a big difference but I enjoy being able to hit distant UHF repeaters. The extra power and a directional antenna on UHF would do the trick. Thanks for getting me to look at other options Doug.