On Mar 30, 2:08 pm, RHF wrote:
On Mar 30, 1:45 pm, wrote:
On Mar 30, 8:18 am, D Peter Maus wrote:
denny wrote:
Anyone have any thoughts or experience with either the Drake R8B
compared to the Icom R71A (with mods), which do you think would be the
better receiver?
R71A was the benchmark for many years. It was the standard receiver
used by three-letter agencies for monitoring. It even found its way into
the military. Sensitivity is good. Selectivity can be exceptional, and
when working crowded bands for a contact deep in the noise, there are
few that are it's rival.
In stock form.
For hobbyists, not so hot. Audio is poor, and like most rigs built
for professional users, it really doesn't deliver it's best performance
without a superb antenna. Don't misunderstand...most any antenna will
get you going, and performance will be very good. But to get the best
out of R-71, you really need as professional an antenna and transmission
system as the agenicies for which it was built.
That said, you can still find an array of filters for it, ceramic,
crystal and mechanical. Ergonomics are reasonably good, with most every
function on its own switch. And, in the hands of someone who knows what
they're doing, it's quite the cannon. Even on a random wire.
R-71 does not have a few of the more luxurient features that some in
the hobby consider essential, today.
Drake R8B was built more in line with today's hobbycraft users'
needs. Again, don't get me wrong...it's a very high performance
receiver....but it's not intended for the kind of installation you'd
encounter on a hidden island where men-in-black are listening to racks
of receivers for the clandestine, untoward, and subversive. R8B has a
cleaner layout than R-71, with much more luxurient features, ear
pleasing audio, and ergonomics more in line with the needs of a less
military user.
Side by side, the Drake will be more pleasant to operate for long
periods of time than R-71. And on simpler antennae will produce the same
or better results.
I had an R71 for many years, and still miss it, today. And R8B wasn't
around when I bought mine.
But, if I were looking for a heavy hitting receiver, today, and those
were my choices, I'd probably have more inclined toward R8B.
Widening the field abit, I'd recommend looking also at AOR's
AR-7030+, Palstar's R30 (and its variants), Ten-Tec's RX-320D, RX-350,
RX-340, and if you can find them, Lowe's HF-150, HF-225, and HF-250.
Though HF-150 isn't in quite the same class as the others. Basic,
small...but its lack of features is more than offset by it's potent
performance.
I've seen some homebrew programming for the R8B. I wouldn't exactly
call it a friendly interface.
It's funny that the AR7030+ was shown to be canceled in Japan via a
post to this forum, but the news never really made it elsewhere.
Anyway, I'd take a 7030+ over a used R8B, but I can handle menus.
Pro gear nearly always chooses high dynamic range over sensitivity.
The assumption is you will have serious iron on the front end or a
preamp. I got in the mood to do some antenna building a week ago and
increased the size of my "indoor" loop for my Wellbrook ALA100 to 20ft
(6ft x 4ft; eating up a bit of a spare room.) It now forces a few more
local MW station to turn on the attenuator in the old 7030, but no
overload problems. I've use 67ft of wire on the ALA100 when in the
boonies, but I can't vouch for how the radio would work in an urban
area, i.e. MW overload. However, it was just silly how well the set up
could pick up NDBs in the daylight. I was in Nevada and picking up
Canadian beacons.
- There really should be more emphasis
- on antennas versus the radio.
M...Sushi - Ditto That !
But a very good Shortwave Radio / Receiver can sit-on
a Desk-Top; and with few exceptions Real Antennas
take up a lot of Real Estate and can cost some Big
Bucks themselves to put into the Air.
~ RHF
Back to the Drake, if you have button mania, wouldn't an older R8A
(crappy sync) and an external synchro demod be another option? I read
about Sherwood's being hooked up to the R8. I never heard or saw this
in the flesh.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Ah, but the Wellbrook ALA 100 and a roll your own loop is pretty
compact. Granted with the weak dollar, a Wellbrook ALA 100 costs more
than some radios. To this day the Bushies claim they don't have a
weak dollar policy. Here is the latest from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1205...googlenews_wsj
This really sucks because much shortwave gear is imported, and there
are no domestic substitutes.
Here is an example where the loop worked really well. A few weeks ago
I was checking out the local TIStations and heard a bible thumper
mixing with one. I'm not much for logging, but I wrote this one down.
The TIS was on 1620. I rotated the loop to null the local TIS and got
KSMH out of Sacto. This is from the south SF Bay.
http://www.ihradio.org/
You don't need a Kiwa to get a deep null. The ALA 100 does just fine.
I have a small 2ft on a side loop I use for DFIng. Try nulling with a
long wire. Ain't gonna happen.