I am interested in acquiring a unit (or building a kit if such is available)
for backpacking with the following specs

Output around 5W SSB/CW
Tunable
Digital readout freq
All (or most) amateur HF bands
Light 1-2kg
Battery drain low on Rx (? 100mA)
Rugged

Does such a unit exist at reasonable cost or is this the realm of military
style radios?
I would appreciate any pointers

Thanks
Richard

There are several that are fairly close to your specs.

The Elecraft K2 is a kit, does all you ask except the battery drain is
about 120mA on receive as I recall. It can include a nice built-in
wide range antenna tuner. It's not physically as rugged as some of the
others but it should be fine as long as you don't throw it around
unprotected.

The Elecraft K1 is a kit, does 4-bands, includes an antenna tuner,
exceeds your current requirements but it is CW only. It's very well
suited for back packing if you are willing to give up SSB. Makes a
nice small package when the internal battery option is included.

The SGC SG-2020 is quite rugged but draws about 500 mA on receive.

Another possibility is the FT-817.

There are several that are fairly close to your specs.

The Elecraft K2 is a kit, does all you ask except the battery drain is
about 120mA on receive as I recall. It can include a nice built-in
wide range antenna tuner. It's not physically as rugged as some of the
others but it should be fine as long as you don't throw it around
unprotected.

The Elecraft K1 is a kit, does 4-bands, includes an antenna tuner,
exceeds your current requirements but it is CW only. It's very well
suited for back packing if you are willing to give up SSB. Makes a
nice small package when the internal battery option is included.

The SGC SG-2020 is quite rugged but draws about 500 mA on receive.

Another possibility is the FT-817.

"Richard Hosking" wrote in message
. au...
I am interested in acquiring a unit (or building a kit if such is available)
for backpacking with the following specs

Output around 5W SSB/CW
Tunable
Digital readout freq
All (or most) amateur HF bands
Light 1-2kg
Battery drain low on Rx (? 100mA)
Rugged

Does such a unit exist at reasonable cost or is this the realm of military
style radios?
I would appreciate any pointers

I would suggest the FT-817 - small, light and covers 160M - 440Mhz with 5W out
CW, SSB, FM, etc. With an internal battery pack it is just over 1Kg without
the microphone.

- 73 Bob W7OV

"Richard Hosking" wrote in message
. au...
I am interested in acquiring a unit (or building a kit if such is available)
for backpacking with the following specs

Output around 5W SSB/CW
Tunable
Digital readout freq
All (or most) amateur HF bands
Light 1-2kg
Battery drain low on Rx (? 100mA)
Rugged

Does such a unit exist at reasonable cost or is this the realm of military
style radios?
I would appreciate any pointers

I would suggest the FT-817 - small, light and covers 160M - 440Mhz with 5W out
CW, SSB, FM, etc. With an internal battery pack it is just over 1Kg without
the microphone.

- 73 Bob W7OV