Martin, I posted this on the other group, but since you raised the point about the current TX-500 I¡¯ve copy-pasted my comment here as encouragement for existing owners:
I¡¯m on the fence about the new ¡°TX-500MP.¡± I¡¯m not certain there¡¯s a huge market for all of that military-esque narrative. When I hear what look like pre-endorsements ¡ª from influencers like OH8STN and, to be fair, probably others ¡ª in which words like ¡°tactical¡± and ¡°deploy¡± are thrown about repeatedly, I¡¯m wondering what scaled-up group of ham radio operators from real life are truly being referenced? Am I somehow missing flocks of Navy SEALs at the ham radio meetings and swap meets I visit? And does the POTA crowd really want a radio whose USB/mic ports are designed to be clipped to your torso? And does anybody need ¡°all the ports¡± shifted to one end of the radio (under the guise of ¡°cable management feedback¡± while forgetting that clumsy usb/mic clip-on thingie for the moment) if that means that?independent?ports have really been combined (i.e., eliminated)? And is getting rid of Lab599¡¯s truly engaging band scope really more desirable than a new antenna tuner ¡ª when we¡¯re already hearing that people want to use this with a tiny linear amplifier anyway ¡ª which of course necessitates another antenna tuner? Finally, why in the world would any influencer act like the loss of the TX-500¡¯s sturdy VFO knob, in favor of tiny buttons that will need to be clicked-clicked-clicked-clicked, is a feature rather than an ergonomic nuisance? I frankly think what we¡¯re about to witness as a follow up to Lab599¡¯s initial masterpiece¡ is a blunder of colossal proportions. I hope I¡¯m wrong about this, I truly do.
73, Randy K7RAN
Randy K7RAN