My transceiver doesn't trans. It's a Kenwood TS-140 which is about 35 years old and I don't want to pour money into it which would have been better spend on upgrading. I key up and the idiot light lights up, but no needles move. I even tried cranking the power down and trying to use it with my LDG Z-817, and got the "No RF detected" flashing red light.

So, the punch line is I need a radio. Budget is somewhere in a loud shout of $6-700. Intended use is about 87% base as a primary transceiver and the rest set-it-up-on-a-picnic-table mobile. I'm almost exclusively SSB with very little CW.

I was thinking that watching for a used FT-897 is my best bet. But new (NOS?) FT-891's are still out there, with warranties and at a price I can work with easily.

(No, my budget just isn't likely to stretch into IC-7300 territory.)

ETA: I've seen one or two used FT-991's at the outer edge of "if I sell some blood I could pull this off" territory. Used 991 or new 891?

891's what I see recommended the most... wonder if anyone is confident enough in their repair skills to buy your dumpster fire.

The Kenwood may be an easy fix for somebody with the experience. Post it for sale on ebay or QRZ.com and be truthful about the condition. On second thought, have an experienced ham look it over first. ie. On SSB there won't be any output unless you speak or it could be a bad mic cable. Follow the manual for various knob settings, on CW or FM mode key the transmitter and check output. Be sure to have a good dummy load or antenna connected, an outboard watt meter would be a big help. hth
73,
Rob

You can find an IC-7100 in your price range used on http://swap.qth.com. It is IMHO much better than the 897. My father has one, and loves it.

I rock a upgraded (common issues fixed in advance) IC-746Pro. Also a pretty swell radio.

Both of us do 2m SSB.

Agreed. Put it in AM and push the transmit button on the face of the tx after turning he power down. Should transmit a carrier. Apologies if you already checked the easy stuff.

The 991 is a very nice and under-appreciated radio from the admittedly limited experience I have with them, if you could pull that off. Much nicer than the 857/897 types.

If the 991 had more time in the market to get established before the IC7300 sucked all the oxygen out of the amateur radio market I think it would have a lot more "cred" than what is has now.

I have the 7100, it's pretty swell for the limited time I spend with it.  
It's situated in a RIGID tool box with tuner and could easily spend time at the park or glamping!

My next rig is the 991a...no idea when but that's where I'm going.

Check QRZ for used equipment. For your budget you can easily get a better transceiver. There are other sites, but
I can't remember them!

QTH.com Classifieds

I just picked up a 897 with antenna tuner and most the good mods for $750 on QTH.

It's still enroute. It should be a really fun radio.

I ended up ordering a new FT-891. Hopefully it'll be here tomorrow and I'll be OTA tomorrow night. It had received pretty good reviews everywhere, although to be fair so did the FT-897 and 991, and the IC-7100 which I was also trying to hunt down. The clincher ended up being the availability of a factory warranty, along with I was a little optimistic about my odds of finding an FT-991 within my budget.

So my plan going forward is to have everything dialed in by Field Day.

I had tried all of that stuff with the TS-140, testing the transmit in CW and AM and not just SSB, using the TX button on the panel and not just the mic, etc. There's just no RF coming out of it. For the moment it goes on to my "projects when I have the time" list, but in a month or so I'll likely just list it with a "doesn't transmit, only good for RX and parts" disclaimer.