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BDK[_3_] · March 25th 08, 06:20 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

In article efa375fa-210f-4c2d-99b2-
, says...
On Mar 23, 12:48*am, denny wrote:
I have a chance to buy a used Kenwood R-5000 receiver. I wanted to ask
if anyone has an R-5000 and how they like it (both pros and cons). I
was also thinking of either an Icom IC-R71 or Drake R8B as well. Any
thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated. Denny Dollahon.

Does it have the optional AM filter and any others installed?

The keypad may develop "bounce" in that it becomes difficult to enter
just one number. Be sure to ask about that.

If the radio has the optional VHF convertor there's an excellent
chance the seller will want at least $300 more than a reasonable
price. The VHF convertor has very limited coverage and is not worth
the trouble.

If it is in good condition you will get a receiver capable of
delivering performance on a par with other high-end receivers of that
era such as Icom R71a and Japan Radio 525. I favor the R5000 because
it's audio is noticable cleaner and the receiver footprint is smaller
than the other two.

I have had all of the above receivers over the years, and I have a
couple of comments..

I like the size of the NRD's, they are a good balance between size and
usability. The R5000 and R71A are both a little too small, IMO. The R8
series scream "cheap" to me, and I really hate the looks of them, and
the display is shameful in a radio that costs as much as the R8's did.
I still regret passing up the R7A I did a few years back, that's the
only Drake receiver I ever really wanted.

The R5000 has the best AM audio of any of them, the R71 is by far the
worst. The R8/A/B is pretty close to the R5000, and is better for
program listening. The NRD-525 isn't bad with the right speaker, and if
you get a later production one, the famous hiss is greatly reduced. My
first one, one of the very first ones sold here, hissed very badly, but
the one I have now has only a slight hiss that disappears when the
speaker is turned off axis slightly. The old one I had went in for
repairs and a board was replaced, and the hiss was reduced about 80%.

The internal speaker on an NRD-525 is a joke. Almost useless, except to
use to make sure the radio works.

Without the optional AM filter, the R5000 is a little deficient compared
to an out of the box R71, R8X or NRD-525. It's not a cheap item to add,
even the Inrad one is pretty expensive. And the Kenwood filter seems to
be almost impossible to find, except for the one on Ebay a while back. I
can't remember what it went for, but it was more than it was new.

The VHF converter for the R5000 isn't really worth it, but the NRD's
UHF/VHF converter is useful, but coverage is oddly limited in the UHF
area for some reason only JRC knows.

The R5000 runs very hot on AC power. There is a mod to move two
regulator ICs to the rear heat sink. One of the ones I had was modded,
and it was done very well by whoever did it, and he braided the wires
that went through the rear panel and ran them through two rectangular
holes he cut perfectly though the back. It looked almost like it was
done by the factory. I kind of hated to sell it, but I had too many
radios, and too little money, so off it went. Other than the heat, the
R5000's weakness seems to be the keypad bounce issue.

In SSB mode, the rankings change a bit. With the speaker I found in my
basement, the 525 is the best, the R5000 and R8s are close behind, with
the 71A not doing too bad, if it's on a decent speaker. Mods can help
the R71A, but it's still nasty on AM. I heard one with a lot of mods
that had an audio out jack added to the back panel and fed into a small
car amp/EQ and a decent speaker, it sounded almost as good as the R5000,
but it cost a lot of money to do it, and ECSS tuning made it kind of
pointless.

After all was said and done, I kept only a few of my many HF receivers,
the newer NRD-525, my now almost 30 year old NRD-515, still the king on
SSB, and my modded to insane levels Hammarlund HQ-100. I have a Kenwood
TS-850 that I got pretty cheap, and after replacing a lot of caps, works
perfectly. I also have an old Allied SX-190 that is a work in progress.
Almost works 100% now, after changing all the electrolytics in it, along
with a bunch of other caps and a cracked resistor. A lot of cracked
solder joints were found too. Just something to play with...

BDK

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