"mike maghakian" wrote:

it was 0300, and reception is a mess unless you have a satellit 800 with the
fabulous state of the art drake sync detector

nothing less than a drake selectable sideband sync as in the 800/SW8/R8B
will handle a mess like that. all I had to do was PUSH A BUTTON.

I could use an R7 but that would take half an hour of fiddling. or I could
get an R75 and spend a week fiddling. but it 5 seconds the 800 had it clear
as a whistle


the sat 800 is the most incredible low cost receiver ever made


You are right -- there is nothing credible about the Sat 800, unless
cheap plastic, knobs that fall off, more birdies than signals, and
faux rack handles are the hight of credibility to you.

You really, really need to try other radios. If you can't tune an R7
or an R75, you probably shouldn't be allowed outdoors without a
keeper.

You want credible, and low cost? Try the Ten-Tec RX320D or the
WinRadio G303i. You want credible and simple? Look for a used Lowe
HF-150, although low-cost won't enter into it there because there's
such a high demand for them.

More credible receivers? Try a Sony 2010, a FRG-100, R7x or R8x, R75,
R8500, almost anything from Ten-Tec (except the regen kits, but those
are for fun, not performance), most Lowe's, the AOR 7030 (although, if
you can't figure out how to tune an R7, I doubt you could figure out
how to adjust the volume of a 7030), dozens of boatanchors (I'm
partial to Collins, myself), etc.

The sat 800 is the radio equivalent of a $45,000 yugo.

Disclaimer: I owned or currenly own one or more of the following:
FRG-7, FRG-100, R75, R8500, Ten-Tec RX340, WinRadio G303i, Collins
R392, Lowe HF-150. I've had the pleasure (or misfortune) of working
with one or more R9000, Sat 800, R8, R8B plus specialized receivers
from Agilent/HP and Anritsu.

You, sir, need to get a clue.