Wayne, As for a HF transceiver, if you are limited on funds, you should
seriously consider one of the older Kenwood rigs. Most of them have voice
modules available that can be installed, if they don't already have one. The
TS-440 is a good rig, though many of them developed some problems as they
got some age on them. The TS-570 is probably a better choice among an older
Kenwood rig. The TS-480 is probably the best of the choices, subject to the
price, age, and how it is equipped. The TS-2000 is also a possibility;
though, I personally, think it is a compromise transceiver, and in a
side-by-side comparison, the TS-570 and the TS-480 generally outperform the
TS-2000. The TS-480 comes in two flavors, the 100 watt model with an
internal antenna tuner, and the 200 watt model without an internal tuner.
Personally, I would select the model with the internal tuner. Without a
tuner, these broad-band, solid-state rigs get pretty fussy as your SWR gets
above 1.5 to 1, and will begin to shut down your output power. That is not a
problem if you have one of those perfect, broad-band antennas, which in
general don't exist, unless you are prepared to invest a substantial amount
of money in something like a SteppIR, tower, and rotor.    

As for antennas, you will get a lot of excellent recommendations from this
group. I have been a ham since 1957 and have used almost every kind of
antenna ever created, wire antennas of all kinds, verticals, and yagi beams.
The best antenna I have ever used for the money invested is my 80 meter
full-wave loop. If you have enough room, this is a fantastic antenna. I
probably have less than $100 invested in my loop, and I use it on all bands.
It requires using an antenna tuner, and the internal tuners will work in
most cases. For example, I can use the internal tuner in my Kenwood TS-590s
to bring my SWR down to 1 to 1 on all bands using my loop. The next best
wire antenna I have ever used is the Double Bazooka; this an excellent
antenna for a single band; however, I can use my Double Bazooka on all bands
with my TS-590s antenna tuner. Probably the single largest downside of wire
antennas like I am suggesting is that you have to have enough room to put
them up, and you also need something to attach them too, like trees, flag
poles, telephone poles, etc. Yagi beams are excellent, but such antennas are
totally out of the question for most of us if we want to use a beam for the
80/75, 40, and 30 meter bands because they are way too large and extremely
expensive. Another factor to consider is that we are on the downward part of
the sun spot cycle which means in another two or three years, maybe four,
the 17, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands will be pretty much dead, and in another
six or so years, they will be for sure. So, the really big question is: "how
much room do you have to work with for putting up antennas?" An 80 meter,
full-wave loop is approx. 260 feet; it can be made into about any
configuration, i.e. a triangle, rectangle, square, or various odd shapes
that basically resemble any of these configurations. In comparison, an 80
meter Double Bazooka is about 120 feet in length. 

I'll stop here because I have already given you enough to overload your
brain. I remember when I first got into ham radio, if someone would have
sent me a message with all of this information, I would not have known what
they were talking about. When I first got into ham radio, I had no idea what
SWR is. So, Wayne, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask us.
There are no dumb questions. 

Ron, K8HSY