so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i keep landing in the same place — paralysis. my current setup is a beat up kenwood ts-570 that i got off a silent key estate sale and honestly it still works fine but the display is starting to act weird and i figure if im gonna spend money on repairs i might as well just go new.

the thing is i do a mix of stuff. mostly HF, some 40m and 20m phone, a little JS8Call and FT8 when the bands are dead and im bored, but i also have a 2m/70cm antenna up and it would be nice to not need a separate radio for local stuff. that's basically why the 991A keeps coming back up for me even though i know the HF receiver on the 7300 is probably better.

anyone run the 991A as their main shack radio for a while? does the VHF/UHF side actually get used or does it end up being a thing you forget is even there. and is the 7300 SDR display really as useful day to day as everyone makes it out to be or is it just a cool thing that wears off after a few weeks

had the 991A for about 18 months before i moved to a 7610 and honestly the vhf/uhf on it is fine, nothing special, but it did mean i could shut off the VX-8 that was sitting on my desk cluttering things up. the HF side is solid too, people talk down the receiver but for general use on 40 and 20 its not gonna let you down. where i felt it more was on 80m when things got crowded, the 7300 just handles that better from what i could tell comparing at a club station.

the waterfall on the 7300 though — i thought it would be a novelty and it really isnt. i find myself actually using it to spot activity and to tune around without just scanning blind. its become kind of how i operate now so going back would feel weird. depends how you work i guess but for FT8 especially having that panadapter built in is genuinely useful not just pretty.

i went 7300 and just kept my old 2m rig separate, for me it wasnt even a hard call. the all-in-one thing sounds great on paper but my HT covers local and i rarely need the desk radio on VHF anyway so the 991A's selling point kinda didnt apply to me. ymmv obviously if you're doing linked repeater stuff or whatever.