In article ,
says...

On 03/07/2011 11:12 AM, BDK wrote:
In om,
says...

On 03/06/2011 10:45 PM, BDK wrote:
In om,
says...

On 03/06/2011 11:55 AM, BDK wrote:
In om,
says...

They look way better than they perform.

I beg to differ. That one in particular was fanastic on SSB and RTTY
modes.


She's got a great personality. I hear the audio is muffled. And it's
full of extinct parts.

You had to have the right speaker on an external amp, and on SSB, it
wasn't bad at all anyway. As a non program listener, I couldn't care
less about the wooly audio. My friend had other receivers if he wanted
to listen to that AM stuff, and so do I. You would be shocked at some of
the parts I got for mine recently, without resorting to cannibalization
of another 515. I just made a few phone calls. Other receivers have long
come and gone, but my 515 and 525 stay around. I bought my 515 in 1984,
and my present 525 in 1989. My R5000, R71a's, Drake R7A and R8A, and
several ham rigs have all gone away. Some, like the R8A annoyed me due
to the el cheapo encoder failing and horrible ergonomics, along with
generally disappointing me, performance wise, others, like the R5000,
just didn't grab me, and the fact it ran insanely hot on AC power, made
it go away. It didn't have the bouncing keypad yet, but I knew it was
coming.

I run my receivers on a decent quality PC UPS, and have surge protectors
on all the antenna lines coming in. The radios get their inputs shorted
when I'm not listening. With those precautions, the main worry I have is
electrolytic caps failing. All the problems my 515 has ever had were
cold solder joint or interconnect caused, and it's been problem free for
about the last 20 years. The 525 has a dimming display, but it can be
"rejuvinated" by simply leaving it on for a while. It doesn't affect
anything anyway.

It's a beautiful radio, very macho. I run my radios on an Astron power
supply, made for 2 way radios.

Wooly. I like that.

Wooly was what the first reviewer called it, if I remember correctly. On
an external amp, on an old speaker I found in my basement when I moved
into this house, it's pretty good. Best audio of any of my present stuff
is:

1. Hammarlund HQ-100 modded to the point of insanity, it sounds great.
2. Kenwood TS-850SAT very nice all around, sounds crappy on the
internal, but on an outboard speaker, it sounds almost as good as the
HQ.
3. Homebrewed SW reciever I bought at a garage sale after the old ham
who built it died. Not enough power output, but it sounds really good on
headphones.
4. Allied SX-190, after the speaker was replaced, it dried up from old
age.
5. NRD-525, Kiwa ultimate rejection mod, 500hz and 1KHZ filters added.
6. NRD-515, Gilfer mods, added filters and the arrestor diodes clipped.
That alone improved the audio a little.
7. A couple of crappy AM only multiband portables. Bad at everything.

I'm too poor to have a big collection (or power up boatanchors). I have
the K3, an R75, the Drake SW2, a Lowe HF-150 (with Keypad and serial
cable), an RF-B45, an Eton E10, a Yachtboy 300, and a Sangean ATS-606P
that I've misplaced somewhere. The Panasonic has the best audio. Oh
yeah, I have a National NC-125 and a Hallicrafters stereo hifi
receiver/shortwave out on the patio. I also only have a very few
scanners. I have left a trail of Trutone, Zenith, Hallicrafters,
Blaupunkt, Grundig, RCA, Realistic, etc. behind me. Not to mention 2
R-390As and a dual channel version of the RA-17.

I've had a couple of the same ones you've had. The HF-150 came and went
very fast, as no matter what I did, I couldn't keep the nearby AMBC
station from hashing it up. I had two filters that knocked down
everything below 2MHZ down about 40DB in series and it still was audible
in the background. A friend who lives out in the middle of nowhere
bought it and it's still going strong. I had an RF-B45 for a few months.
It was ok, but the drift drove me nuts, and the filters were less than
great. I never had one of the huge tube radios though. When I had money
to buy one, I couldn't find one I liked, and when I found one I liked, I
had no cash for toys. I almost bought an HQ180a a local guy had for sale
a while back, but I had no place to put it where it could be used.

--
BDK- Top of the government shill heap for over 10 years running!

In article ,
says...

On 3/7/2011 2:12 PM, BDK wrote:
Best audio of any of my present stuff
is:

1. Hammarlund HQ-100 modded to the point of insanity, it sounds great.
2. Kenwood TS-850SAT very nice all around, sounds crappy on the
internal, but on an outboard speaker, it sounds almost as good as the
HQ.
[...]


The 850 with the DSP-100 can sound unbelievably good with a few
mods. Listen to what it sounds like on SSB at NU9N:

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/N2VU_Donald.mp3

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/VE6CQ_Rick.mp3


With all good wishes,


Kevin, WB4AIO.

Nice.

--
BDK- Top of the government shill heap for over 10 years running!

On 3/8/2011 2:32 PM, BDK wrote:
In ,
says...

On 3/7/2011 2:12 PM, BDK wrote:
Best audio of any of my present stuff
is:

1. Hammarlund HQ-100 modded to the point of insanity, it sounds great.
2. Kenwood TS-850SAT very nice all around, sounds crappy on the
internal, but on an outboard speaker, it sounds almost as good as the
HQ.
[...]


The 850 with the DSP-100 can sound unbelievably good with a few
mods. Listen to what it sounds like on SSB at NU9N:

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/N2VU_Donald.mp3

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/VE6CQ_Rick.mp3


With all good wishes,


Kevin, WB4AIO.

Nice.

That reminds me. I have a TS-930 and a TS-440SAT in the garage,

On Mar 8, 6:31*pm, dave wrote:
On 3/8/2011 2:32 PM, BDK wrote:



In ,
says...

On 3/7/2011 2:12 PM, BDK wrote:
Best audio of any of my present stuff
is:

1. Hammarlund HQ-100 modded to the point of insanity, it sounds great..
2. Kenwood TS-850SAT very nice all around, sounds crappy on the
internal, but on an outboard speaker, it sounds almost as good as the
HQ.
[...]

The 850 with the DSP-100 can sound unbelievably good with a few
mods. Listen to what it sounds like on SSB at NU9N:

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/N2VU_Donald.mp3

http://www.icycolors.com/nu9n/mp3/VE6CQ_Rick.mp3

With all good wishes,

Kevin, WB4AIO.

Nice.

That reminds me. I have a TS-930 and a TS-440SAT in the garage,- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

....and probably some other forgotten gear in the basement !

On Mar 10, 12:06*am, wrote:
On Mar 9, 8:26*am, dave wrote:

On 03/08/2011 11:04 PM, wrote:

That reminds me. I have a TS-930 and a TS-440SAT in the garage,- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

...and probably some other forgotten gear in the basement !

I have a basement?
TM-271 2m FM in the family truckster

Sorry . Must be a bunker .

! 'bunkers' ! : I Know Bunkers ;;-}}

One of the Houses in Oakland : My Good Old Dad
built a Small Bomb 'Shelter' -circa-1950s
Just a Small 5'x8' Room with 4-Chairs and 2-Cots
Sleeping Bags; Food & Water + Supplies [Radio].
Had a Wooden outside Door with 6~7 Steps Down
to a Metal Door leading into the 6" Concrete Lined
Room in the a Half-Basement.
One thing I Remember was it had an Axe and Pick
inside so we could Chop & Pick Our-Way-Out.
Both Doors Locked and Dad had a Metal Cabinet
inside to Store His Hunting Rifles and Ammo.
Mostly it got used to store Mom's Jars of 'Canned'
Food.
Dad had me 'stay' down there for a Day a couple
of times; just to get the 'feel' of Surviving.
Actually was a 'nice' place to go to escape the
few Summer Days in the SF East Bay.
One Ceiling Light & One Outlet & AM Radio
-note- Just a Bucket : No Toilet

Many Years later ~1970s one of the Younger
Rental Tenants 'Asked' Me About "The Room"
{Think She Thought It Was A Dungeon}

my old man was a hard working
thinker and a doer ~ RHF

On Mar 10, 12:09*am, wrote:
On Mar 9, 1:03*pm, bpnjensen wrote:





On Mar 9, 6:35*am, RHF wrote:

On Mar 9, 5:26*am, dave wrote: On 03/08/2011 11:04 PM, wrote:

That reminds me. I have a TS-930 and a TS-440SAT in the garage,- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

- - ...and probably some other forgotten gear in the basement !

- I have a basement?
- TM-271 2m FM in the family truckster

Yeah most Houses built since WWII
most likely do NOT have Basements.

Especially out here in California ~ RHF

Now Un-Finished 'Attics' are a different matter ;;-}}
*.
*.

Most places where deep frost occurs still have basements.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In the past it was mainly used for winter food storage . *Wine too .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Comes in mighty handy as a toolshop and rumpus room too. I wish I had
one.

On 3/10/2011 10:41 AM, bpnjensen wrote:
On Mar 10, 12:09 am, wrote:
On Mar 9, 1:03 pm, wrote:


Most places where deep frost occurs still have basements.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In the past it was mainly used for winter food storage . Wine too .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Comes in mighty handy as a toolshop and rumpus room too. I wish I had
one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon

On Mar 10, 11:17*am, dave wrote:
On 3/10/2011 10:41 AM, bpnjensen wrote:

On Mar 10, 12:09 am, wrote:
On Mar 9, 1:03 pm, *wrote:

Most places where deep frost occurs still have basements.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In the past it was mainly used for winter food storage . *Wine too .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Comes in mighty handy as a toolshop and rumpus room too. *I wish I had
one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon

Understood. Probably lower concentrations in coastal California than
some places. We probbaly had a bunch of it in New England, where
granitic rocks were common.