I just checked with Universal Radio, 1-800-4313939, and although they
had none of this model in stock in their used department,
_________they're featuring a new IC-718, normally priced at $690, but
with a $70 cupon which brings it to $620.  Use the UT-102 speech chip
which runs between fifty and seventy dollars new or used, and you've
got one of the finest new radios/IMHO, for the money that's out there.
 Although the earliest models were shipped without the DSP/UT106, the
later models come with the DSP as standard equipment.  (Sorry, but I
forgot to ask about whether it was in this unit/they probably have
more than one, and I imagine the cupon is pretty much market wide.
Anyway, It has a keypad on the faront, a front firing speaker, is
pretty simple to operate, having a few menus to set, but most if not
all, are "set and forget"  It _Doesn't have a tuner, and or a power
supply, but for the money, a hundred or less watt radio, with voice
access, that's in production, I'm not sure you'll beat it in the price
range!!!  I've had and used one, and liked it a lot.  I thought they
were selling for a lot more than that price new, but aren't, according
to that price. I'm surprised none of you mentioned the 718.  HTH,
Danny

On 3/26/14, Howard Kaufman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> For that money, I'd stay away from out of production models, since the
> availability of replacement parts will come sooner than models in
> production.
> With that said, you should be able to find a ts570 for maybe $600 or so.
> It is out of production.
> I have used the 480, and like it a lot.  The cW filter really improves the
> radio if you will be using that mode.
> The 100 watt model has an internal tuner that will tune anything under a 6/1
>
> SWR.
> Some of the 480's are reported to have less PEP SSB output than you might
> want.  They are very conservative on their audio adjustments.
> If you are buying it from a store, have them check that out.
> I can whistle mine up to full power, but talking in to it, I get less output
>
> than I do on the kx-3 or the omni D.
>
>
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