The always and forever is the better mousetrap! A tour through eBay yesterday was an eye opener.
I actually was looking for crystal filters and saw a bunch under the ICOM section. The FL-30, a 9 MHz, 2.3 kHz wide SSB filter can be found in many ICOM rigs of the past. These are currently priced in the $20 to $30 range. For tighter skirts the FL-80 is a good selection. A tighter skirt on a shapely YL is better and so take the hint when it comes to filters.
My tenet for those 1st time builders who want to build a SSB transceiver is that you buy a commercial filter as a first step build. After you get your homebrew rig working and working properly, then and only then, take up the science project of homebrewing a filter.
You want your very 1st HB rig to be a success, and a commercial filter puts you way up on the curve. Later on, you can fiddle and fool around with the math and crystal selections and even use that untrustworthy Nano VNA you have.
I have several radios with homebrew filters, and they work FB because I know what the rig can do with a commercial filter first. My choice for a HB frequency is a filter at 4.9152 MHz --- just like in the Elecraft K2.
But while touring ICOM, I spotted several offerings from China for the ICOM IC7300 for less than $600. It's clear they have product they are trying to dump before what's his name Tariffs kick in. I even saw one NIB IC7300 for $19. Yes, $19 but the shipping was around $650.
Now is that a way to beat old what's his name Tariff plan? Does the tariff exclude shipping costs because that would be one sure loophole? The Oriental mind is very good at business, and I am sure they know the tricks to avoid tariffs -- $669 is a great price for a IC7300 for those who can't resist the appliance boxes and lack the technical chops to actually build stuff. Regrettably those two factors are a common set amongst a large segment of the US Ham population.
The $600 price tag on an ICOM IC7300 is sure to give DX Engineering and Giga Parts some heartburn as their price range is about $400 higher. (America will be great again with higher prices.) Then a clever option will be to set up stores just across the US/Canadian border and sell the $19 IC7300 with the $650 shipping cost.
Better mousetraps always bring a smile to my face, and I can see the $19 radio as a great clever idea!
73's
Pete N6QW