General Coverage Receivers

[KG4CGC]

Looking for the opinions and experiences of others here on their favorite general coverage receiver.
Sensitivity, selectivity, SSB or AM only etc.......

[WØTKX]

My old Super Pro was great but... I like the general coverage RX on my Kenwood TS-850 and Ten Tec Pegasus best.

Will probably add the Ten Tec RX-320D (http://www.tentec.com/index.php?id=15) to the shack someday, but I'm likely to spend the money on the new Flex 1500 (http://www.flex-radio.com/Products.aspx?topic=F1.5k_features) first. That radio makes my acorn itch.

[KG4CGC]

I had a chance at an RX-320 (non D) that needed a knob but the rat bastard bid it up to exponentially astronomical heights.

[N8YX]

My favorites:

Kenwood R-5000 - some folks claim that the rig suffers from internal (CPU-generated) noise but there are fixes if present. Very sensitive, 100 memories. All-mode reception out of the box, and will cover 118-174MHz with the optional VC-20 internal converter.

Icom R-71A - the audio response is a little flatter than that of the '5000 but it's a darned good receiver nonetheless. Various enhancements available, and of these I would recommend the aftermarket memory back-up boards as first priority.

ITT Mackay Marine 3030A/3031A/3041A - a casualty of the demise of the HF ship-shore telecommunications industry, these rigs excel at sub-4MHz reception - which is the range where they were most used. No noise blanker but they weren't needed at sea. An outboard audio DSP unit will rectify any received noise problems.

Drake R7 - Still one of the best tropical-band (120/90/60M) receivers going. No FM capability but everything else is there. Uses a PTO for tuning and will drift a bit until warmed up but in total shouldn't exceed 400hz or so.

Watkins-Johnson HF-1000, TenTec RX-340 - kissing cousins; ergonomics very similar. If you can find either at a decent price they're definitely worth the money.

[N8YX]

Pictures are worth 1k words, so here goes.

First, the R7:

2992

Next, the 3031A:

http://www.qsl.net/n/n4xy/Images/Electronics/Ham_Radio/Receivers/rcvr_itt-mackay-marine_3031a.jpg

The 3030AR version. Also shown are Watkins-Johnson 8718 and Racal 6790, both of which are very desirable receivers to own:

http://www.bobsamerica.com/sitebuilder/images/3-1a-450x390.jpg


Harris 590. Wonderful set but the VFD is its Achilles heel. Make sure you have spares:

2993

Collins HF2050. The first DSP-based Collins:

2994

Collins 851-S1. You find one of these at a decent price, grab hold of it:

2995

Collins 651-S1. Synthesizer is "chuffy" - 100hz step points and slow lock time. Users of the Heathkit HW-5400 will immediately recognize the quirk. This receiver went for $10,300 in the late 70's:

2996

[KG4CGC]

Cool pics!

I'm considering setting up the SP-600 along side the Rycom for DC and AMBCB.

The Rycom is actually a piece of test equipment that cover 1Hz to 460Khz. It consistently showed subtle changes in band conditions over the Winter. Another 300' of wire and I'll have a 1/32nd wave antenna for BBC4 LOL!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/RYCOMLWR.jpg

[KG4CGC]

Sorry about raping the tables.

[ka4dpo]

Cool pics!

I'm considering setting up the SP-600 along side the Rycom for DC and AMBCB.

The Rycom is actually a piece of test equipment that cover 1Hz to 460Khz. It consistently showed subtle changes in band conditions over the Winter. Another 300' of wire and I'll have a 1/32nd wave antenna for BBC4 LOL!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/RYCOMLWR.jpg

What's a Kilocycle??

[KG4CGC]

What's a Kilocycle??
Cold War terminology.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

KiloCycle= 1000 motorcycles. ;)

[W1GUH]

In the vintage BA gen. coverage all mode category it's hard not to like the HQ-180. It's audio borders on yellowy, but in all other aspects it's a super receiver.

Of course, if you can get your hands on the one prototype, there's the SX-112 (http://www.hallicraftercollector.com/unusual_hallicrafters.htm).

http://www.hallicraftercollector.com/unusual_products/sx112.jpg

[KG4CGC]

In the vintage BA gen. coverage all mode category it's hard not to like the HQ-180. It's audio borders on yellowy, but in all other aspects it's a super receiver.

Of course, if you can get your hands on the one prototype, there's the SX-112 (http://www.hallicraftercollector.com/unusual_hallicrafters.htm).

http://www.hallicraftercollector.com/unusual_products/sx112.jpg
That's receiver sexy.

[W1GUH]

And there's always the HBR-16, as evolved from HBR-nn. Well, technically it's a ham band receiver, but it's home brew, so you could always hb it to be gen. coverage.

Now there's a project!

http://www.io.com/~nielw/hbr16/photos/DSCF0012a.JPG

Info and more pix here (http://www.io.com/~nielw/hbr16/photos/DSCF0012a.html).

[N2NH]

What's a Kilocycle??

1 KC = 1KHz (KiloHertz)

The only Hertz we had in those days used to drop a man into a car.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuf9gdEgfw

[N2NH]

I had a Drake SSR-1 which had markers every MHz. Not good for synchronizing with WWV. I used CHU instead. Used a Yaesu Receiver preamp attached to a McKay/Dymek active antenna which worked well. No squelch had to work around it by desensitizing the Rx.

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~vk5vka/Ssr1.jpg

I also had the first SONY Digital Portable, the ICF-2001 which had major problems. The buttons didn't work well, it had no tuning knob everything was direct entry or up/down, no squelch you had to lower the sensitivity and the slider volume was prone to getting debris and dirt in them. Not good when you live near the ocean and sand and salt are everywhere. It was portable like a very large hard cover book and only in the early '80s would that be considered portable.

http://homepage.mac.com/colus6/wave_ban/2001d/icf2001d.jpg

I also had a Zenith Transoceanic which worked remarkably well. There was little dial backlash and it was pretty sensitive (but not by todays standards_. It received AM/SSB/CW/FM/NFM and had all the HF/VHF/UHF ham bands too.

http://www.rgbent.com/ZenithTransoceanic2700Open.jpg

But I lusted after the Kenwoods, R-1000 & R-500. I was thinking of using it as a separate with a transceiver when I got my General, but I never did get it.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:xRhXB2zucaGOUM:http://www.ki7f.com/RadioPix/Kenwood%20R-1000%20SW%20Receiver%201.gif&t=1

This was the creme de la creme of SWL radios as far as I was concerned though. Panasonic RF-9000. I used to visit it in the store window on 5th Avenue at least twice a month. For real.

http://www.dxing.com/rx/panr9000.jpg

[W1GUH]

'NH....you said IC-2001, and pictured a 2010. I've had a 2010 since '91; it's been my daily clock radio and I think it's an outstanding performer so long as one uses the built-in whip for HF receiving. Forget about using an external antenna. That overloads it into the unusable realm. The only thing it's lacking is FM stereo. I think used ones in good operating condx are getting pretty pricey these days. Other than that it's very sensitive, (more or less) selective (except CW) and stable. AND it's got one of the best if not THE BEST synchronous detectors out there. Oh, OK, .1 kc tuning steps is disconcerting, but not really a big drawback. But then, I had an IC-701 with .1 kc steps & NEVER had a problem with that.

Re: kc to kHz conversion. Here's a simple way to do that from our friends at eHam. (http://www.eham.net/articles/4323)

[N2NH]

'NH....you said IC-2001, and pictured a 2010. I've had a 2010 since '91[/img]

Couldn't find a pic of the 2001. Normally tuning wouldn't be a problem, but the really bad buttons on the 2001 made it very hard to use.


Re: kc to kHz conversion. Here's a simple way to do that from our friends at eHam. (http://www.eham.net/articles/4323)

:rofl::rofl:
Now THAT'S funny.

[KG4CGC]

Good stuff. Currently using the SP600 as my main AMBCB band cruiser. The stuff I find with that rig!

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

OK, so what is the best value for the dollar today?
I too have used the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, pick your era, they were all very large.
What I want is a selection, everything from small to huge that is available today, and why you like it.

[NQ6U]

Hello.

OK, so what is the best value for the dollar today?
I too have used the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, pick your era, they were all very large.
What I want is a selection, everything from small to huge that is available today, and why you like it.

You looking for a portable or a desktop receiver?

Don't know much about current portables but as far as a desktop radio goes, I can recommend the Icom IC-R75 as delivering a high bang/buck ratio.

[N8YX]

What I want is a selection, everything from small to huge that is available today, and why you like it.
IC-R9500.

RX-340.

AOR AR-Alpha

WinRadio's various offerings.

Buy once, cry once.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

One thing that had me impressed was a series of Soviet era radios.
The Russians introduced the microprocessor to some radios as an add-on only to discover that the CPU produced RF hash.
Russian radio designers came up with a novel approach to the problem.
The radio would come up and display frequency once turned on, but blank out after a few seconds.
What was happening was that the CPU would load the PLL circuit and than shut down.
Touch display and the frequency counter would come up.
Touch tuning and the full CPU would come up.
The radio came in 2 models, one with a VFO and the other crystals, with the digital circuits added as a module.
Both the French and the Egyptians had AN/GRC-9 radios that were adapted to this scheme but from free world suppliers.
Of course, now an entire new radio is produced, no more upgrades.
However I really like the basic idea, and there are external digital VFO kits that are much quieter now.

[ka4dpo]

I like my HQ-180 the best for general HF listening.

[N8YX]

I like my HQ-180 the best for general HF listening.
Had one mated to a GSB100.

Pulled in a LOT of AM BCB DX with it.

[W2NAP]

i miss my panasonic 4900.