Hi Mike, Thanks for your very carefully chosen prose. I'm not interested in ripping them to shreds, however. I believe it you look into kit sales, you'll see most of them are being sold to long-time licensees looking for new areas of interest. Five-watt rigs are not generally designed for newcomers, and on a unit cost often exceed that of a piece of used gear. One-hundred watt rigs are found everywhere, many of them cheap, and most of them easily operated by even the greenest of folks. I don't have all of the answers, but my years of being on the bands just makes me feel that five-watts is not the place to put the entry-level H.F. folks. I'm still tired from the rigors of our long-range-planning sessions in St. Louis. That was a really intense session. Take care, OM. 73, Bob W6RGG