Here's a *possible* solution: buy an AOR AR7030 Plus receiver from one
of the shops in England in conjunction with Richard Hillier at AOR UK
(he can make recommendations to you based on your requirements and
will contact the shop of your choice to have the radio specially made
up and shipped to you). Then contact Jan Arkesteijn and download
RxWings (you can e-mail him and get the latest version). You will then
have a superlative receiver which can be used as a stand-alone radio,
a radio controlled by a remote-control device, and a
computer-controlled radio. Should computer standards change in a
number of years, well, you'll still have the stand-alone radio. You
can have your cake and eat it too! (The AR7030 is AT LEAST as good as
the Drake; frankly, I think it's much more versatile and better.) By
the way, Jan's computer control program RxWings is totally FREE!

Joe

P.S. You can tell your wife that this will be the VERY LAST short-wave
radio you'll ever need to buy. If you're lucky, she MAY even believe
you!

m II wrote in message news:t06Xc.44065$S55.34787@clgrps12...
Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike