On Feb 29, 8:09*am, (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote:
The 9500 is a bargain if you have the money and want that extra
margin in the situations it excels at. If it makes the difference
between having every possible DXCC country in your log and not,
or getting that one extra contact for a contest, it's worth it.

Since this is an SWL group, let's face it, that extra margin is probably
of no concern to an SWL. In the real world a $200 portable with a $5
wire probably will "bag" you 95% of what is out there when it is there,
so the difference in price does not buy you much.

Did you know there is a ham out there with a 20m (14mHz) 10 element
beam antenna? I'm sure he could use one. :-) If you don't know the
math, my 11 element 2m beam antenna was 6 feet wide, by 12 feet long.
Multiply that by 10.

At least they made the thing look and feel like a radio, instead of
an expensive VoIP box.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel *N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog athttp://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Geoff makes a good point - whilst an R75 will get 99% of the catches,
after 40 years DXing I am now after that rare 1% - those tough MW
catches over 14,000 miles away from my QTH. That's when one of these
super priced full feature radio's come into their own and make the
investment worthwhile.

That's why I am upgrading to an Icom IC-7700 - something I am waiting
for with foetid breath, expected to arrive here in April.
BTW it's manual is 217 pages!!!

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx