"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
dxAce wrote:

Michael wrote:

"john" wrote in message
ups.com...
just wondering i don't own a drake r8, r8a or r8b, but i am
thinking of purchasing an r8 or r8a. does anyone use this radio
for dxing NDB's and how does it perform on longwave. i'm also
reading alot about the r75 as a pure dx radio, especially with
the mods, but it seems the drake never gets the heads up vs the
r75 as a pure dxer. it also seems that the drake is the better
BCB listening radio due to its better audio. i would love to hear
from someone who owns both. and has compared them in this
respect.

thx, john

Hiya... I have an R75 with all the Kiwa mods. Even without the
Kiwa mods, the R75 is a decent radio for program listening. Don't
let anyone tell you otherwise. The criticisms of the R75's audio
are really overstated. I've found that the Kiwa audio mod helps
out a bit, but it isn't a tremendous improvement. You'll no doubt
get Drake fans spewing out all kinds garbage about the R75 "making
a good door stop", but the absurd and inflammatory nature of their
statements are their own indictment. They don't like the idea of a
$500.00 dollar radio outperforming one that they paid $1,800.00
for. I've also used each and every one of the R8 series radios.
They are not... I repeat... NOT as good for DX'ing as is the R75.

Your DX'ing must be a lot different from my DX'ing...

That isn't brand loyalty, that is a fact.

Nah, it's just your opinion.

The R8's with their warm audio and ssb selectable sycn is
absolutely superlative for program listening. BUT.... That doesn't
mean that the R75 is a bad radio for program listening. It's
adequate to good. And... Once again... You don't need the friggin
mods. When I really want to dress up the audio from my R75, I run
it through my PC's sound card. I have a five point surround sound
speaker set up with a full software equalizer and effects package.
If I use ssb ecss tuning to listen to a weak or messy broadcast
signal with my R75 or with any other radio, I run it through my
sound card and use my software mixer/effects to make it sound as
full and robust as if it was is AM mode. I have a number of
mixer/effects presets that I have set up just for that exact
purpose. Not to mention, if you get a broadcast that is too
muffled or too tinny or has too much mid range, all you have to do
is more a few sliders on the mixer and viola... A comfortable
broadcast to listen to. So... I can get my R75 to sound great for
broadcast, but I cant get the R8 to perform for DX'ing like the
R75.

Hmmmm.. you tell us how great the R75 is then you turn around and
tell us about all the tricks required to make it sound right. PC,
sound card, mixer, sliders, and even a viola!

Very interesting.

Actually very amusing.


"Interesting" was the better choice. No question you'll get conditions that
your R8b's synch wont help with. If you spend any time at all listening to
SW, you'd learn that your first day on the dial. Not to mention, you'll
find all kinds of over or undermodulated broadcasts. And plenty of them
with too much bottom or too much top. If you spent a day in your life
listening, you'd know that. No matter how slick your R8b sounds listening
to a clean broadcast or one with a minimal amount of distortion or intermod,
most of what is out there sounds far from desirable given the nature of sw.
Using your sound card and a full software equalizer and effects set up on
your PC to mix signals is not only an outstanding tool, once you've gotten
good with it, you'd consider it to be an essential part of your sw listening
gear. You would really be amazed at what you could do just by rolling over
or boosting part of the audio. That doesn't even include things like reverb
or audio level clipping. I'm astounded that it hasn't become the norm.

Michael