Picking My First Rigs and Antennas

I've been researching what rig(s) and antenna's I'd like to purchase.   For me this is a daunting  task since there are so many options and you have to align your hardware around what you want do. All this equipment isn’t cheap too, so I’m trying to make sure and purchase something that will work now and have the ability to grow with me as I advance my skills and go for my general license. 

 

There are many more options and features now than back in 1980 when I had my novice license!  Back then it was CW and Voice and that was about it. 

 

I think I’m going to start by focusing on the following areas:

• Voice – Repeaters and FM
• Voice – distance (dx) – I used to love contacting people in far away places
• I may also get back into CW but I’ll have to refresh my morse code for that. 

Assuming I’ll get my general license next year, my hours of web searching and watching YouTube videos have led me to the following configuration: 

ICOM-7300 – 160M – 6M bands

• This will give me voice access and DX on the 10M and 6M bands – that’s all my license allows me until I get my general license.
• MFJ MFJ-2010 - MFJ Ultra-Lite Off-Center Fed Dipole Antennas – this will cover 40M, 20M, 10M and 6M for SSB (voice).  I'll expand my antenna's as time permits.  Dave Casler (KE0OG) gave it a good review so that makes me feel like this will be a good start.
• 50' LM-400 low loss coax

 ICOM-9700 – 2M, 70cm and 23cm bands

• This will give me access to all the repeaters and V/UHF SSB and DX options.  Plus other fun items down the road like satellite, bouncing signals off the moon and other fun things I'd love to try someday!
• Comet Antennas GP-95 - Comet Tri-Band VHF/UHF Base Antenna – this will give me access to most if not all the repeaters in the general area using FM
• This antenna will require a tri-mixer because the 9700 has three antenna ports
• 2M Yagi – Cushcraft A1483S for SSB and distance
• 23cm Yagi - Cushcraft A4496S for SSB and distance
• These antenna’s will require switches or a patch panel so I can switch back and forth between Comet and Cushcraft antenna's. 
• Several LM-400 low loss coax cables

I mean look at the clean look and feel of these units!

Of course - I do not have =>$4000 just laying around to get started...  How disappointing, right!  So - I've decided to cut back on some of this to reduce that amount in about half...  Read the next post for what I think I'm going to purchase!  I'd love some feedback though in case someone with more experience could provide some additional insight!