crazy thought

$5k?

I would go to a ham swap and look for one of a couple radios.

One would be a Johnson 123a (which you can laugh but it is one of the best receiver line made).

Another would be an early cobra, 23 or 40 channel.

I would not bother with a cb shop, maybe work on it myself or *yes* consider someone else like that mark dude to work on it.

After spending $150 on the setup - with gas to get to the swap, I would book a cruise and go on vacation with the rest of the money.

I understand your question but there is something you guys seem not to get, it isn't like cars where someone asked you how fast you want to go, and that is where the costs sit. Some of the better stuff is ignored, many think that export radios (junk in my opinion) are great while the older radios seem to work better. I've got a lot of older gear that sounds great without modifications, but as many of us tend to look at the receive part of the radio, the 123a seemed to be the best then and it is better than what is now out there for some reason.

 

Would stay away from any cb shop, but would glad'y go into ham radio store.

Would get me yaesu 857 and a nice ant, and would put the rest into saving account.

 

Don't get me wrong i am into cb stuff and had pretty much all brand throughout the years but there is just so much you can do with a CB.

HF & all mode rigs are something else, i would actually keep my 955 fine tune and more than likely have the 857 hooked up too.

I had a TS50S in my truck for a while and this thing was fun to use did mostly listening with it....

 

98 as a back up for your 955, that's one hell of a back up!

Curiosity all of these radios went thru Mr Sherman hands?

 

But you could invest part of the 5 thousand in a mutual fund...........

 

But those radios speaking on a performance level suck compared to others, they lack actual tight designs and are there to fit many purposes.