Icom R75 vs Satellit 800 purchase choice?
 

Ok, I've got enought for either the R75 or the Sat800. They're
both about the same price. I'm not too concerned about portability
but looking for a great all around box for the money.

What do you listen to, Mostly
and what do you listen to
Occasionally ?
How important is the sound coming from the radio's speaker?
Can you hook up an external speaker or use headphones??

Are you interested in Strong, clear signals or more to the "Digging out
Pirates"
type of listener..


In article , DEE
writes:


Ok, I've got enought for either the R75 or the Sat800. They're
both about the same price. I'm not too concerned about portability
but looking for a great all around box for the money.

DEE wrote:

Ok, I've got enought for either the R75 or the Sat800. They're
both about the same price. I'm not too concerned about portability
but looking for a great all around box for the money.

Personally, in that price range, I'd go with a used Drake R8.

Of the two you mentioned, the Sat 800 is likely to be better than the R75 for program listening - but the large number of refurb sat 800's on the market leads me to feel they still have quality control issues. If you go for a Sat 800 - you're probably
better off with a refurb - it'll cost you less, and presumably someone has gone over it to fix flaws.

The R75 is likely to be better than the Sat 800 for utility use. The sync detector doesn't work very well. Other than the design flaws, they seem to be well made.

Otherwise the R75 is a good choice if you like to tinker. Several hobbyists have discovered inexpensive ways to fix the engineering goofs. Now if only Icom would decide to incorporate these fixes into future production...

DEE, you'll have to have cap mods done on the a.g.c, audio, and sync for your
R-75 to perform up to its' potential. If you're proficient with a soldering
iron, why not consider Ten-Tech's 1254 World Band Radio kit for $195? Passport
says it's "a fun weekend project, and the manufacturer's track record for
hand-holding means that when you're through, the radio should reall work"!

DEE wrote:

Ok, I've got enought for either the R75 or the Sat800. They're
both about the same price. I'm not too concerned about portability
but looking for a great all around box for the money.


Sound: If you listen mostly with headphones, either is great. If
you like to listen mostly with speakers, the "as-it-comes" sound of the
Grundig is great. The Icom's built-in speaker is of afterthought
quality, but any external speaker works well with it.

If you like listening to mainstream broadcast SW, you'd be perfectly
happy with the Grundig. If you like best-possible reception abilities
with a good antenna, (serious DX) the Icom comes out well ahead. If you
like to do a lot of CW/RTTY listeningk the Icom gets the nod, but if you
are a really SERIOUS CW/RTTY person, you'd need some additional filters
for the Icom for best performance.

Tony


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I have both, which I bought as novice, a couple of years ago (and
overzealously added BC 780 (scanner), and Sony 7800 GR (portable)...

I agree with Tony M's answer precisely...BUT, if I could only have one,
it would be the R-75. Each works great, but I believe it's due
to working until you get the antenna(e) right, which IMHO is
the trick to making this stuff work , )

Relax, have fun, enjoy and don't worry about the "right"
decision - either way you'll be okay. You simply can't get it "all" up
front 'cause there's so much to learn and it takes time to zero in on
what you like ('kinda like a boat - otherwise you'd hold out 'till you
could buy a yacht , )


BTW, I would be happy to sell any or all of the above, as I'm
ready to move up to a single specialized pro receiver to fit my
preferred listening style, e.g the ICOM 8500, or NRD 545, et al.
(plus, I only use each of the above for special interest; 'still have
boxes, manuals, etc. each is mint)!


In article ,
Tony Meloche wrote:

DEE wrote:

Ok, I've got enought for either the R75 or the Sat800. They're
both about the same price. I'm not too concerned about portability
but looking for a great all around box for the money.


Sound: If you listen mostly with headphones, either is great. If
you like to listen mostly with speakers, the "as-it-comes" sound of the
Grundig is great. The Icom's built-in speaker is of afterthought
quality, but any external speaker works well with it.

If you like listening to mainstream broadcast SW, you'd be perfectly
happy with the Grundig. If you like best-possible reception abilities
with a good antenna, (serious DX) the Icom comes out well ahead. If you
like to do a lot of CW/RTTY listeningk the Icom gets the nod, but if you
are a really SERIOUS CW/RTTY person, you'd need some additional filters
for the Icom for best performance.

Tony


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News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000
Newsgroups
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=---

--
(C)2004, all rights reserved
FrankM, Atlanta GA
To email: change FrankM to fwmco

The R75 is a much better receiver than the SAT800. The R75 excels at digging
weak signals out of the mud.

I have both and I'm just not very impressed by the SAT800. With external
speakers or headphones, the R75 is just as good for regular program listening
and the R75 is lightyears ahead of the SAT800 in dealing with DX.

If you want decent program audio consider the far cheaper Grundig S350.


Michael Bryant, WA4009SWL
Louisville, KY
R75, S800, RX320, SW77, ICF2010K,
DX398, 7600G, 6800W, RF2200, 7600A
GE SRll, Pro-2006, Pro-2010, Pro-76
(remove "nojunk" to reply)

No, it's not just as good for program listening. The sync detector
makes AM DX much more listenable on the S-800.

On 21 Feb 2004 16:27:07 GMT, ospam (Michael Bryant)
wrote:

The R75 is a much better receiver than the SAT800. The R75 excels at digging
weak signals out of the mud.

I have both and I'm just not very impressed by the SAT800. With external
speakers or headphones, the R75 is just as good for regular program listening
and the R75 is lightyears ahead of the SAT800 in dealing with DX.

If you want decent program audio consider the far cheaper Grundig S350.


Michael Bryant, WA4009SWL
Louisville, KY
R75, S800, RX320, SW77, ICF2010K,
DX398, 7600G, 6800W, RF2200, 7600A
GE SRll, Pro-2006, Pro-2010, Pro-76
(remove "nojunk" to reply)

In article ,
ospam (Michael Bryant) wrote:

The R75 is a much better receiver than the SAT800. The R75 excels at digging
weak signals out of the mud.

I have both and I'm just not very impressed by the SAT800. With external
speakers or headphones, the R75 is just as good for regular program listening
and the R75 is lightyears ahead of the SAT800 in dealing with DX.

If you want decent program audio consider the far cheaper Grundig S350.

Bryant is entitled to his opinion but this is to strong an inditement
against the SAT800 and to praiseworth of the R75. The R75 excels at
generating more BS posts about its performance than anything else.

I would not recommed the R75 to anyone unless they intend to spend all
their listening time on SSB or narrower bandwidth transmissions. The R75
has an advantage over a radio like the SAT800 with narrow band
transmissions but not (lightyears) that much.

The R75 is not a good radio for the wider AM mode international
transmissions where the audio bandwith will be limited. The limited
bandwidth means it will just not sound as good as the SAT800. The sync
circuits don't work right in the radio and have to be modified to work
right. The sync circuit is an advantage for AM reception that you don't
have unless the radio is modified.

There are problems with the AGC in the R75 that cause reception problems
and this needs to be fixed also.

Without modifications the R75 is a good narrow band receiver and with
modifications it is an OK wide AM international broadcast receiver but
not nearly as good as a SAT800.

Bryant probably has not figured out how to use the selectable sideband
sync on his SAT800 yet.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

From: David

No, it's not just as good for program listening. The sync detector
makes AM DX much more listenable on the S-800.


The sync detector on the S800 also increases the noise floor. You are right
that the sync lock (combined with a much better speaker) on the S800 does make
listening to the very strongest stations much better, But if you're trying to
listen to a weaker-than-superpower station the combined effects of AC hum,
digital hash, and noise from the sync can be real disappointing.

I've operated the R75 and the SAT800 side-by-side for almost two years. I don't
have any problem listening to broadcast stations on the R75 in either SSB or
AM. If tuning AM, detune (up or down) about 1.2 kHz to fine the "sweet" spot in
AM narrow. Headphones or external speakers improve the audio even more.

I really think my Sony SW-77 is a better radio than the SAT800.

I know a lot of people think differently. I know that there are probably people
that will simply respond calling me a liar. They call me that no matter what I
say.

But I know what I like and I'm not thrilled about the SAT800. I might even put
a 7600GR with good external speakers above a SAT800.

Just my two cents.


Michael Bryant, WA4009SWL
Louisville, KY
R75, S800, RX320, SW77, ICF2010K,
DX398, 7600G, 6800W, RF2200, 7600A
GE SRll, Pro-2006, Pro-2010, Pro-76
(remove "nojunk" to reply)