Petar, the answer obviously depends on the condition of the
radio. Does "new" truly mean unused? Never on a
boat? And how do you know?
The 710 is one of the radios for which both Sailmail (
www.sailmail.com) and Winlink (
www.winlink.org)'s client
software specifically offers set-up instructions. It is one of 'the' radios the
software author, Jim Corenman, had in mind when writing that software, known as Airmail.
www.airmail2000.com ('Client' software is what runs on your
laptop; it's similar in function to 'Outlook' on your computer at home). The 710 will require the addition of a
Pactor TNC (essentially, a modem) but then, with the right
cables to link the radio to the TNC & TNC to the
laptop, it will
work Pactor exchanges perfectly. It is not considered a great ham radio; it's difficult to move the xmit & receive freqs easily, which is a common need on Ham radios...but once the freqs are set, it will serve this function as well as when used on the
Marine Bands.
Assuming the radio is unused, my reaction is that $1100 for radio + tuner is a good
price. Were I you, I'd do two things re: the
purchase: Upfront, I'd ask for the
serial # and check with an
Icom dealer to determine the radio's age and whether any
service bulletins exist for it; second, assuming I bought it, I'd take it to an Icom
repair facility (AES is an excellent business and they might be able to handle a
marine transceiver, altho' they specialize in ham gear) and have the radio bench-tested and adjusted. This not only assures you the radio is performing as well as it can when subsequently installed, but also helps you when troubleshooting a problem during the
installation, since you will know if isn't the radio that's causing the problem.
To learn more about installing the radio,
counterpoise and
antenna, you'll find a large number of threads on such topics at the SSCA Discussion Board, written by some very knowledgeable folks.
http://ssca.org/sscabb/index.php (Unfortunately, I notice it's down today (Saturday) but I'm told they are working the problem).
Jack