so ive been sitting on this decision for like two months now and i keep going back and forth. currently running an old FT-450D that i picked up used a few years ago and it's been solid but i want to upgrade and get something with a proper panadapter and better DSP filtering cause i do a fair bit of RTTY and some SSB contesting on weekends.

the IC-7300 is obviously the crowd favorite and i get why, the real-time spectrum scope is genuinely useful and not just a gimmick. but the 991A does VHF/UHF all in one box which would clean up the shack considerably since i have a separate 2m rig sitting on the desk just eating space. price difference in my area is about $200-250 depending on where you look.

i know this gets asked constantly but most of the threads i found are from like 2018 and wondering if anything has changed with firmware updates or if peoples opinions have shifted. mostly HF with occasional satellite stuff if that changes anything.

had both at different points. the 7300 receiver just feels cleaner to me on a crowded band, the roofing filter situation on the 991A is a bit of a weak point if you're doing any serious contesting — you'll notice it when the band is wall to wall signals. firmware on both has matured a lot so that's not really a deciding factor anymore.

that said if you're doing satellite the 991A makes way more sense because full duplex on SO-50 or whatever with one box is just easier to manage. if it's mostly HF contesting and RTTY i'd go 7300 without much hesitation, the waterfall alone is worth it for finding activity and the audio DSP handles RTTY decoding software really well in terms of clean audio output to the PC.

i run the 991A and honestly dont regret it but i'll be straight with you — if i was starting over and didnt care about the vhf/uhf i'd probably just get the 7300. the all in one thing sounds great on paper but in practice i still ended up with a dedicated 2m FM rig anyway because the 991A's vhf tx power is fine but the rx feels a bit mediocre for weak signal work. so kind of defeats the purpose depending on what you want out of it