My radio equipment over the years
I climbed the whole ladder before reaching the FTDX-9000. In 1973 I acquired a military R20 receiver and built an approximately 5 W transmitter around an EL84 valve. Later I managed to obtain an NV1 heavy-unit receiver and built a PA using two GU29 valves, CW only of course. Around the early to mid-1980s I obtained an ML1250M receiver and built a two-band 80/20 m CW/DSB transmitter. Toward the end of the 1980s I acquired a Telrad-200 transceiver; for me, that was radio heaven. In 1993 I brought a Kenwood TS-520 back from Germany. It cost 750 Deutsche Marks at the time, and I carried it across the border hidden in my Lada. Quite an adventure.
From the 2000s onward the possibilities really opened up: Yaesu FT-920, FT-1000MP, Icom IC-7800, then Yaesu FTDX-5000MP and FTDX-9000, a Kenwood TS-990S, plus Icom IC-702, IC-7100 and several smaller rigs.