wrote in -
berlin.de:

I have recently been thinking about buying a new portable receiver for
bedside use, I'd just about decided on a Sangean ATS-909 (Roberts R861
here in the UK) when I wondered whether I'd actually be better off
getting my FRG-7700 off the shelf and using that.

I have the space for the FRG-7700 by the bed, that's not a problem and
I suspect that it'll be significantly easier to use while in bed as it
won't fall over like a portable will when pressing the buttons etc.

I already have an external aerial (could be improved). Will the
FRG-7700 actually perform better than a modern portable still? Reading
through old postings to rec.radio.shortwave opinions seem quite mixed.
I have the FTR-7700 Aerial Tuner for my FRG-7700 and it has the memory
option and the Gilfer Associates improved filters.

Depends. In my own experience the FRG-7700 performance is a great
motivator for rejoning the hobby. With a moderately good antenna it can
be surprisingly decent, though it's hampered by lack of usable filters
and more modern options such as synchronous detection (which the ATS-
909/R861 doesn't have anyway). But it's sensitivity is quite good for a
set of its era, IMHO.

Earlier this year I did what you're contemplating. I pulled out my
neglected FRG-7700 and installed a 60 foot random wire in the attic; had
a blast logging decent stations for several months. But the allure of
more modern circuitry was hard to resist. I considered some of the newer
portables available but eventually went for a tabletop, an Icom R-75,
with which I'm very happy. (The 7700 is now my bedside radio as well).

Why not set up the 7700 and experiment for a month or two? You might
discover that your renewed listening habits eventually lead towards the
ATS-909 or perhaps to something more sophisticated. But give the Frog
another try....

----

wrote in message Will the
FRG-7700 actually perform better than a modern portable still? Reading
through old postings to rec.radio.shortwave opinions seem quite mixed.
I have the FTR-7700 Aerial Tuner for my FRG-7700 and it has the memory
option and the Gilfer Associates improved filters.

Probably better than most portables. But to be honest, I've used no
recently made portables. All the portables I used were in my younger
days when that all I could afford. The radios were usable, but
compared to what I have now, they were horrible. So I'm kind of biased
to be a non-portable type of dude. I consider my IC-706mk2g about as
portable as I need to get. If I have to drag a 12v battery around, so
be it...
It would blow away any battery portable I've personally used. To be
honest, I've never seen a portable that I was too thrilled about when
it comes to SSB reception. But I suppose many are perfectly suitable
for AM-SWL use. I'd rather try that 7700 again myself. It should be
perfectly usable. If you get a better radio, get something good like a
newer Icom or a drake or whatever...Heck, How often does a person
actually require a battery portable to go walk around? I don't too
much. At home, I wouldn't even consider a portable at all if you want
really good performance. But thats just my opinion.. Lets say I had
300-500 bucks to blow. Would I buy a new whizbang portable? No way...
I would chase down an older Icom IC70-71 series, drake , or
whatever...I would also prefer many of the "puter driven" radios
better than many or most portables. IE: ten tec, icom, etc...I guess
all those funky portables I've used over the years left a bad taste in
my mouth. The only portable I have that I like, is my old '58 TO. But
even it's a relic when compared to anything decent these days. Good
for AM-BC though. My main gripe with the "modern" portables that I
have seen is funky readout resolutions, many are limited in res, some
are not very stable, poor image rejection, just overall not up to my
normal expectations. Take for instance my 706g. That sucker has 9 or
10 dial resolutions/speeds you can dial up. I can crawl along like a
snail, or cross the spectrum faster than a ****house rat. Or anywhere
in between. Readout to a single cycle. Try that with the average
portable. But to be fair, the 706g was a $900 radio when I bought it.
It's also an all mode-all band transceiver, so lots of that money
could be invested in better receiver goodies, if you bought a receiver
only. It's less now...About $750? They were $1300-1400 when they first
came out. Kind of like puter hardware... :/ MK

schrieb:

I have recently been thinking about buying a new portable receiver for
bedside use, I'd just about decided on a Sangean ATS-909 (Roberts R861
here in the UK) when I wondered whether I'd actually be better off
getting my FRG-7700 off the shelf and using that.

Judging from http://www.sherweng.com/table.html, the FRG-7700 is
better than even an upper-class portable in terms of strong signal
handling (though still not particularly impressive for a tabletop), but
doesn't fare so well in terms of maximum filter rejection (dunno about
the quality of the filters themselves) und has rather high phase noise
(this seems to be typical for PLL synthesizers from those days), which
makes selectivity even worse.

I already have an external aerial (could be improved). Will the
FRG-7700 actually perform better than a modern portable still? Reading
through old postings to rec.radio.shortwave opinions seem quite mixed.
I have the FTR-7700 Aerial Tuner for my FRG-7700 and it has the memory
option and the Gilfer Associates improved filters.

With an antenna tuner on a decent antenna, the memory unit (seems to
improve frequency stability) and better filters, it shouldn't be hard to
beat even a well performing portable. The only downside may be the
operation that shows the age of the receiver, and apparently it performs
best after warming up for an hour or so. This is certainly a receiver to
have fun with even today, even some DX shouldn't be a problem. I haven't
specfically looked for any modifications, but this article (in German)
suggests that changing some parts can improve the reception quality even
further:
http://www.dr-boesch.ch/radio/yaesu-frg7700-mod1.htm
Doesn't seem to be for the faint of heart though. If anyone should be
interested, I could translate the text.

Stephan
--
HX-inside:
iP133, Mill II 4 MB, 256 MB FPM, 2.5 + 1 (IDE) + 4.5 (SCSI) GB;
WinNT 3.51 / WinNT 4.0 / Win95a / DOS 6.22 + WfW 3.11
Home: http://stephan.win31.de/

Mark Keith wrote:

wrote in message Will the
FRG-7700 actually perform better than a modern portable still? Reading
through old postings to rec.radio.shortwave opinions seem quite mixed.
I have the FTR-7700 Aerial Tuner for my FRG-7700 and it has the memory
option and the Gilfer Associates improved filters.

Probably better than most portables. But to be honest, I've used no
recently made portables. All the portables I used were in my younger
days when that all I could afford. The radios were usable, but
compared to what I have now, they were horrible. So I'm kind of biased
to be a non-portable type of dude. I consider my IC-706mk2g about as
portable as I need to get. If I have to drag a 12v battery around, so
be it...
It would blow away any battery portable I've personally used. To be
honest, I've never seen a portable that I was too thrilled about when
it comes to SSB reception. But I suppose many are perfectly suitable
for AM-SWL use. I'd rather try that 7700 again myself. It should be
perfectly usable. If you get a better radio, get something good like a
newer Icom or a drake or whatever...Heck, How often does a person
actually require a battery portable to go walk around? I don't too
much. At home, I wouldn't even consider a portable at all if you want
really good performance. But thats just my opinion.. Lets say I had
300-500 bucks to blow. Would I buy a new whizbang portable? No way...
I would chase down an older Icom IC70-71 series, drake , or
whatever...I would also prefer many of the "puter driven" radios
better than many or most portables. IE: ten tec, icom, etc...I guess
all those funky portables I've used over the years left a bad taste in
my mouth. The only portable I have that I like, is my old '58 TO. But
even it's a relic when compared to anything decent these days. Good
for AM-BC though. My main gripe with the "modern" portables that I
have seen is funky readout resolutions, many are limited in res, some
are not very stable, poor image rejection, just overall not up to my
normal expectations. Take for instance my 706g. That sucker has 9 or
10 dial resolutions/speeds you can dial up. I can crawl along like a
snail, or cross the spectrum faster than a ****house rat. Or anywhere
in between. Readout to a single cycle. Try that with the average
portable. But to be fair, the 706g was a $900 radio when I bought it.
It's also an all mode-all band transceiver, so lots of that money
could be invested in better receiver goodies, if you bought a receiver
only. It's less now...About $750? They were $1300-1400 when they first
came out. Kind of like puter hardware... :/ MK

Just IMHO: I have a Frog 8800 (the successor to the 7700) and I'm quite
happy with it as a DX machine. I have a DX396 that I use to listen just
to news (Radio Netherlands and Radio Exterior de Espana) so I don't have
to keep plugging in the 8800-I have to keep it unplugged because any
flicker in power will screw up the microprocessors. The 396 is a nice
radio but unsatisfactory for hard core DXing. (It tunes in 5khz steps.)