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Old November 11th 07, 06:48 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
Pete KE9OA Pete KE9OA is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 271
Default Drake sw-2 vs. Sw-8

It is good that you like the SW-2; we all need to be happy with our
purchases! Now, about that encoder..............you should be able to find
that component at Digi-Key for about 3 dollars, or better yet, replace the
encoder with an optical encoder.
In order to do this mod, you will need to remove the pullup resistors at the
input of the up and supply +5V for the encoder. I am assuming that a
Quadrature encoder is being used here. This type of encoder has only two
outputs, channel A and channel B. When turning clockwise, channel A leads
channel B by 90 degrees; when turning counterclockwise, channel A lags
channel B by 90 degrees.

Pete

"k9kz" wrote in message
...

"Pete KE9OA" wrote in message
. ..
I just got through reading the review on the link that you provided.
Thank
you for posting it. This is good that this receiver uses good quality

metal
cased ceramic filters. It appears to use the same noisy synthesizer as
the
SW-8, and it doesn't use the input bandpass filters that the SW-8 uses.
Still, for a cheap price it isn't a bad receiver.
I have an SW-8 (1994 version), and it isn't a bad receiver. One thing I

like
about the SW-8 is that the LCD is illuminated with a Lumitex fiber optic
illuminator. Only one high intensity LED radiates into a fiber optic

bundle
that fans out into a flat panel. The advantage here is that by changing

the
color of the LED you can choose your own display color. I knew there was
some reason that I kept this receiver around!
I stand corrected in my original impressions of the SW-2. Although the

SW-8
is still a better receiver, the SW-2 still seems to be a fairly good

design.

Pete


The SW2 is a terrific receiver for the money. It's the only desktop I've
used that didn't need an external speaker. I think all of the SW2's will
have encoder problems eventually though. One sorry regular here sold me an
SW2 and described it as in perfect working condition. When I got it you
couldn't even tune with the knob. Other than that and the sorry 50 Hz
tuning
resolution it's a VERY nice rig. I had a nice SW8 too but prefer the SW2.