I have the 718 and agree that it is not very blind friendly though having 
said that. It is very good on air and for the price a good radio. I have set 
it against a pro3 and found receive wise ( or tx for that matter ) is as 
good. and it can be worked with Ham radio deluxe.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Danny Dyer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:28 AM
Subject: Re Re Budget Minded


> Subject, Re Budget Minded,
> Hi Ron And Matt, Ron, I'm Very Interested in your thoughts on the 817.
> Couple of
> questions, Do you have and use one?  Do You Have Any Sight at all?  If 
> Not,
> how do you find the radio in actual practice?  817's A Great feature and
> value packed radio, but Not Very Blind
> Friendly, even with the John Hansen W2FS Millenium QSYER, which is a must
> for either a sight challenged or a "blind as a bat person like me." I've
> had, operated, and loved/hated, 2 817s and 2 817NDs, and prefer the Icom
> IC703+ for portable HF work.  The little bottom row buttons on the 817 are
> too easy to inadvertently punch and then not know how to get back to a 
> known
> state with out sighted assistance, without doing a hard reset....been 
> there
> done that, and got overly
> tired of doing it.  Please get back to me as I'm interested to hear your
> observations!  And Matt, Anything I can do to help you come up with the 
> best
> rig for your situation, I'm more than willing to do.  Thanks, Danny.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ron Canazzi" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 2:27 PM
> Subject: Re: budget minded
>
>
>> Hi Matt,
>>
>> Well, if you do not mind QRP rigs, the Yaesu 817 is a little more than 
>> 500
>> dollars.  I think I saw it for 549 dollars on one of the Internet
>> sites--this is brand new.  It only has 5 watts, but you can get external
>> amplifiers for the future--when you save up enough.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "matt V" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 1:52 PM
>> Subject: budget minded
>>
>>
>> this is probably a long shot but, is there such a thing as an hf radio =
>> for under say, $500? the ones i have seen on hamradio.com are mostly =
>> over 5k.  ok maybe i should add "that are actually good radios" for =
>> under 500 say, maybe the price of a 2m mobile or something or should i =
>> just keep dreaming, i want to get on hf again but i don't see that =
>> happening with the prices i've seen
>