[Yaesu] The law of diminishing returns

[John Geiger]

Here is a question I have about station design, but
first let me set up the situation:

Current setup-I recently picked up a rig in good
condition that does a pretty good job for me.  It
covers HF and 6 meters (my favorite band) and knocks
the noise out at my QTH as good as any rig I have
seen.  It is not considered a contesting rig or big
gun DX rig, but I do like it and it does all the
bands/modes that I am currently interested in.
I won't list the brand or model to avoid biasing
responses from people who love or don't like that
brand or model.

Current operating-DXing, casual contesting, and some
ragchewing, plus hunting grid squares on 6m.  I have a
full time job, and a fairly young family with a 3 1/2
year old daughter. Just can't get alot of time in
front of the rig, especially for hard core contesting.
 Plus I have a fairly simple antenna system (2 element
mini quad) but have worked 310 countries, and did 850
QSOs a few years ago in the 10 meter contest for my
best contest effort ever (pre daughter days).

Now here is my question.  Given that I am a fairly
limited budget, when do I hit the point of diminishing
returns.  By that I mean, when does spending extra
money to upgrade to another radio not pay for itself
in the extra performance you buy.  Would spending an
extra $800 to upgrade to a 756PRO or FT1000MP really
be worth it?  Given my operating style, would I be
getting my money's worth out of that extra money? 
That would be pushing things a bit financially, but it
wouldn't make up homeless or starving, or anything
like.

I am sure that others have similiar situations and
similar questions.  So when do you hit the point where
the extra money isn't worth the extra performance?

73s John   

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com