so ive been lurking here for a while and finally got my general ticket last month. been saving up for a proper HF rig and i keep going back and forth between the FT-991A and the IC-7300. every time i think ive made up my mind i read another thread or watch another youtube video and flip again.

the 991A is appealing because it does VHF/UHF too and i dont have a separate radio for that yet, so its kind of an all in one thing. but then everyone seems to rave about the 7300s waterfall and receiver performance. my main interest is going to be SSB and maybe some digital down the road, probably 40 and 20 meters mostly. i dont really care about satellite or anything fancy.

is the receiver difference actually noticeable in day to day use or is that more of a contest station thing where it matters. budget is roughly $1000-1100 and i can stretch a little if it really makes sense to. just dont want to buy the wrong thing and regret it six months from now when i actually know what im doing.

honestly both are solid radios and you cant really go wrong, but since you said your main thing is HF and you already mentioned 40/20 SSB, id lean toward the 7300. the receiver really is noticeably better in crowded band conditions, not just a spec sheet thing. ive used both and the difference on a busy 40m evening is real. the waterfall alone will teach you more about propagation in your first year than almost anything else.

the 991A is great if you genuinely need that VHF/UHF capability now, but if you've got a handheld or plan to get one separately, its kind of redundant. the 7300 is just a more focused radio and it shows. also the menus on the 991A drove me slightly insane at first, though you get used to it.

i went through this exact same thing lol. ended up with the 7300 about 8 months ago and zero regrets. the panadapter display is addictive, like i just sit there watching signals pop up on 20m. for digital stuff like FT8 it works really well too, setup with wsjt-x wasnt too bad once i figured out the audio routing.

only thing i'll say is budget for a decent antenna cause the radio wont matter much if youre on a compromised antenna. learned that the hard way.