On Apr 13, 10:13 pm, "Von Fourche" wrote:
I'm thinking of going after a Kenwood shortwave receiver on e-bay. Back
when I got into
shortwave radio during the mid 1990's I always wanted a Kenwood R-5000.
Well, after buying two great portables, a Grundig Yacht Boy 400 and the
famous Sony ICF-2010, I never went after a Kenwood.

Anyway, I stopped listening to shortwave four or five years ago. Now I
noticed that Kenwood radios are discontinued and are popping up on e-bay.

So, are Kenwood radios worth going after for shortwave? And will they
let me pick up the small stations in Africa that I could never get with my
portables?

Thanks!

Yes, its a very good receiver but be aware of key bounce which was
already mentioned here. Indeed, it may not be an issue for you if you
don't direct-entry frequencies much. Also, one of the R-5000s that I
had owned developed a hum which was caused by a board inside the rig
becoming loose, another possible headache but it is fixable.
It does have many things going for it despite these potential
problems, particularly for weak Africans which are mainly in the
tropical bands.
Portables are sensitive but generally have poor dynamic range compared
to radios in the R-5000 class, and have enough internal noise to hide
weak signals. The R-5000 is quite good in this regard; if the antenna
picks it up you will hear the signal, and it also has some of the best
audio you'll find for a HF receiver, which is a plus for understanding
what you're hearing.
Make sure that the wide AM filter is the upgraded 6 kHz filter. If
its not then you'll really need to get one at an additional expense of
$50-100 on eBay. You can add (or have a technician add) a 4 kHz
filter for it which is available from Inrad, but because the IF of the
R-5000 is not 455 kHz, this is the only extra AM filter you can add.
It is a very good and useful filter, BTW, and I believe Inrad still
also has a 1.8 kHz filter for it which may help in really tight spots
using ECSS. An R-5000 with all four filters is a super rig!
The IF Shift is quite useful but doesn't work in AM; however using
ECSS will allow you to use this feature to clear up adjacent channel
interference with any filter selected. The notch filter is a big
plus, no portable that I know has one.
Get a good antenna whether you get the R-5000 or something else.
It'll make the Kenwood really shine, but also help lesser radios, too.