I don't remember right off how much the voice chip is but most of Icom's HF
radios still take the same one so it's still out there, I know it was
expensive, maybe a shade over $100 but it is still available. I might be
wrong on the price too  I haven't bought one in over a year and I really
can't remember what I paid for mine. You won't go wrong with that radio I
don't think,  and trust me, if you get listening on HF, you'll want to
become part of it  lol, I know I did, a friend invited me to go with them
to the ARRL one day, I operated HF there and then field day a couple weeks
later and I was hooked.

At 11:08 AM 5/12/03 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi John,
>    Thanks for your message -- you're correct that I don't have HF
>privolages at the moment, but I figure being able to listen to HF and CW
>is the best way to get good CW practicing and see how much I wan to get
>into HF.
>    Do you recall how much the voice chip runs for the 706, and whether
>they still make them or if I would have to find someone wh owanted to sel
>one?
>
>Thanks,
>Ivan.