In article , pierrot51
@hotmail.com says...

"snip"

Anyone else feel like that? Maybe it's because my first shortwave was in the
1960's.

Pierre

Mine was in the fifties.

A. I prefer analog when I'm prowling the bands looking for
something interesting. I still love my NC-125 for this with its low
friction antibacklash flywheel knob'd bandspread. The Sony ICF 2010 is
useless; chuffing. The Sat 800 is pretty darn good.


B. I prefer digital when I'm looking for something specific and
know a frequency to keystroke and execute. I really like the Sat 800
for this, using my fat stubby digits for digital entry. The ICF 2010 is
pretty good, fast! I use a pencil eraser to get at those tiny buttons.
The NC-125 is near useless for this as I no longer have a calibration
marker generator, though my handmade calibration charts for the
principle bands will get me there eventually.

Yes, that's exactly the way I feel about it.
Pierre

"Frank White" wrote in message
...

Ah yes. For mystery, excitement, and the thrill of discovery,
digital has nothing on slowly turning that knob and as the
indicator creeps across the spectrum, listening for the
voices, music, or lack of static that tells you yes, there
IS something there.

Digital is good for when you know where you want to go.
Analog is for finding out what's out there.

FW

"Pierre L" wrote in
:


The Neurosis of the digital age. Admittedly people have their
preferences, and though I am fond of digital displays, I too find it much
more enjoyable to use analog tuning when searching the dial for
frequencies.

Regards

I have two very good digital tuning shortwave radios, one with
synchronous sideband, but I find myself choosing to play with and
listen to the little analog tuning portable I have most of the time. I
like to be able to scan the bands by hand with the dial and to see
where I am. When I let the digital do this automatically, it just
doesn't seem the same. I just don't derive the same pleasure from the
digital tuning, and I have no plans to ever be a part of digital
radio.

Anyone else feel like that? Maybe it's because my first shortwave was
in the 1960's.

Pierre





--
Never say never.
Nothing is absolute.

Try an SX-190. Analog all the way, and rock stable because the first
oscillator is crystal controlled. Nice, big, solid metal knob for
tuning. The dial on mine is accurate to within a kHz or so from one
end of any 500 kHz band to the other. There is a built in calibrator
that gives you 100 KHz and 25 kHz markers.

I also have a synthesized Sony radio. It has no tuning knob, only a
keypad, so tuning is either by direct freq entry or holding a button
down until the radio starts scanning. If you step up or down it goes
in 5 kHz hops. There is a pot you can use to fine tune +/- 3 kHz or
so it seems. There is a switch that allows 9 kHz channel hopping on
the MW band, but it is located behind the batteries inside the radio.

I used to have an R1051b. A brute of a receiver. Worked great, but
tuning was a major pain. I was using dumbells to build up my forearms
so I could tune the thing. I don't think there is a more stable radio
than that one. The ISB mode -both sidebands through two separate
detectors and audio paths allows for very accurate exhalted carrier AM
listening. Tuning in that mode is very interesting- as you move the
frequency the audio appears garbled in one ear then moves to both ears
and becomes ungarbled, then moves out the other ear becoming garbled
again. Great for stereo headphone listening!

MR

Frank White wrote:

In article ,
says...

I have two very good digital tuning shortwave radios, one with
synchronous
sideband, but I find myself choosing to play with and listen to the
little
analog tuning portable I have most of the time. I like to be able to
scan
the bands by hand with the dial and to see where I am. When I let the
digital do this automatically, it just doesn't seem the same. I just
don't
derive the same pleasure from the digital tuning, and I have no plans to
ever be a part of digital radio.

Anyone else feel like that? Maybe it's because my first shortwave was in
the
1960's.

Pierre

Ah yes. For mystery, excitement, and the thrill of discovery,
digital has nothing on slowly turning that knob and as the
indicator creeps across the spectrum, listening for the
voices, music, or lack of static that tells you yes, there
IS something there.

Digital is good for when you know where you want to go.
Analog is for finding out what's out there.

FW

It really depends on the particular analog and digital receivers you're
comparing. Using the tuning knob of my R8B at the 1-Khz rate, I can scan
an HF band as fast as any of my old Hallicrafters. Several hundred Khz
per second if you want to go that fast to see if a band is 'open'.
There's no muting and the synthesizer can keep up with that tuning rate.


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"Robert Herschbach" wrote in message ...
I'd like to be able to listen for transatlantic MW stations on my car radio
while driving, but that's hard to do since digitally tuned car radios only
give you the 10khz spacing. That might be an example where analog had some
benefits.

Just depends on the radio. Not all digital tuning radios are the same.
I much prefer digital overall, but mine gives you the best of both
worlds. You can tune in many different rates, and there is no chuffing
or any artifacts , no matter what rate you use. Also, if you go slow
enough, the sound and feel is just like analog. My IC-706mk2g has ten
different tuning rates. Single cycle, 10 cycle, 100 cycle, 1kc, 5 kc,
9 kc,10 kc, 12.5 kc, 20 kc, 25 kc, 100 kc. On HF and MW I use 1 kc the
most. Only with the higher quality SW radios were the analog readouts
very accurate. IE: old collins, drakes, etc..Another thing I like
about the digital, or mine at least, is when I dial the readout, I end
up perfectly on freq. IE: say I tune to 14.200 using the 1 kc rate.
I'm exactly on freq. 14.200.000. No farting around. So if I'm on 75m,
and tune 3850-51-52-53, etc, each one is right on the money ???.000...

This is more important to SSB than AM of course...MK

Maybe someone should come out with a radio that has both an analog dial and a
digital readout.

Ad to that knob tuning with a variable tuning rate, the speed determined upon
how much pressure is put upon the knob. Of course, that would require servo
motor drive. But I'm thinking of touch-sensitive keys on a synthesizer. Maybe
improving the up-down buttons on the radio. I hate the time-held and the manual
speed switching methods.

Bill, K5BY

"WShoots1" wrote in message
...
Maybe someone should come out with a radio that has both an analog dial
and a
digital readout.


I think the Grundig S350 is exactly that. I haven't used one, but that is
what I understand the features are.

-- Stinger

i had an old firestone console all my childhood and early adulthood. it
had flywheel tuning that must of weighed a pound, split-gear backlash
control and 6v6 output tubes into a 12 inch speaker. even my cheap
sangean portables that i have now are far superior in every way but one.
there is little satisfaction with any of them. i am not "one with my
radio" like i once was. my old radio was an extension of my senses....
like a telescope that allows me to see all the way around the world. the
new ones are like watching it all on web cam. maybe my brain interfaces
better to the radio with analog. to use digital requires a conscious
thought with every keystroke. spinning that knob is a more instinctive
action.

Jim wrote:

i had an old firestone console all my childhood and early adulthood. it
had flywheel tuning that must of weighed a pound, split-gear backlash
control and 6v6 output tubes into a 12 inch speaker. even my cheap
sangean portables that i have now are far superior in every way but one.
there is little satisfaction with any of them. i am not "one with my
radio" like i once was. my old radio was an extension of my senses....
like a telescope that allows me to see all the way around the world. the
new ones are like watching it all on web cam. maybe my brain interfaces
better to the radio with analog. to use digital requires a conscious
thought with every keystroke. spinning that knob is a more instinctive
action.

Have you ever used a digital receiver with a tuning knob? The better
ones all have a knob in addition to the keypad.


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