Just think .....when I first got into haming there were no sush thing as trancevers.......so you would have had 4 units instead of 2.......and then consider that then multy bander transmiters were very rare....I had two Globes...and 2 Halicrafter 96s and a Johinson viking......then 4or 5 home built cristal rigs that I could croud up or down band ......My first trancever was a johnson white face..that I had converted to 10 meters using cristals....then when I got legal..actualy when I got caught and was told toget a lisence or face punishment......so I got my novice and then I went to gen then to advanced...then on the last day that the 20 word was to be given pased and went to extra.........novice....WN0UIG....I think.......Gen....WB0UIG....advanced KI0HO....and when I went to extra I kept the advanced cause they were doing away with that rateing and I thought it would be neet to keep it..........After I got legal my first real rig was a Heathkit SB-104 along with the speaker cabnent..the phone patch,the SB-liner[cant remember what the mod on that was....and the SB-power supply...whitch I still have........Boy was I shiting in tall cotten when I had that rig up and running!!!!!!Talking Proud!!! Kind of liked that Heath green!!!!!! then when we were in KC. I donated the heath gear to a highschool club and I bought a Yeasu FT-900....I could get that one in the pickup!!!!!!! Hell that heath had to be hauled in the back!!!! some day Ill get back active.....Hell there are so many new modes now days ! in Emporia was on 2 meter a lot.......oh well some day.......
I have a few friends that still have their original rigs for posterity sake. As for me, I've only been in this thing for two years, and at 62 I'm not into keeping around more crap than I can use. I've been swapping, buying and selling to get to where I'll have three modern rigs once the QRP rig gets here today, and that should hold me over for the winter.
As far as antennas go, that's another story. Its so much fun to build them, tune them and then talk to someone in Europe, South America or Australia, that I'll probably just keep doing it. Yesterday I bought a 2000# 12vDC winch for raising and lowering my tower so I can do it by myself. I have a 10m vertical antenna that needs to come off the mast, and a rotor that needs mounting for my 8-element dual band cubicle quad UHF/VHF antenna. I need to figure out a mounting spot so I can get those projects done before the snow.
A friend of mine is going to show me how to work the digital modes this afternoon. I've played with PSK31 a little, but there's so much more out there to learn about that a little coaching will shorten that curve.
Getting back into ham radio is not too hard. The biggest thing for HF is getting a wire out the window to talk on. Living where you do, it's not like you're going to piss off any neighbors on that dirt road with a few antennas strung up in the trees or off a tower.
A G5RV is all you need and you're back in business.
73