DEE wrote:

I thought I had my mind all made up to purchase an Icom R75.
Then, a friend turned me on to PC controlled radios such as the
TenTec Rx-320D. Now I'm on the fence again. PC controlled seems
to offer a lot of bang for the buck.

I have and use both radios. Bought the R75 after getting "knob envy" using
the RX-320. The Icom CAN be computer-controlled wonderfully with free
software (Ham Radio Deluxe) and the addition of a standard DB-9 cable. The
R75 costs $450 and can also be used WITHOUT a computer... perhaps an
important point. If you get the RX-320, prepare to spend more money to
replace your CRT with a less noisy LCD monitor, as shielding seems better
on the Icom.

In my direct comparisons, the RX-320 performs about as well as the Icom
(except on long wave and the lower MW BC band) and its many filters are
quite useful. OTOH, the Icom adds defeatable AGC, RF gain control,
terrific noise reduction and blanking, and auto notch filter, plus a 2-
stage preamp... all of which make the R75 a much more "serious" receiver.
It also has twin passband tuning controls, which work nearly as well as the
RX-320 filters. I often prefer the "punchy" audio of the R75.

You _can_ tune the RX-320 with a knob (Griffin PowerMate) but it will cost
you another $40.

Now that I have both, I would rather keep the R75 if I could sell the RX-
320. The R75's many added features and ability to be used manually more
than make up for its higher price.

In either case, these radios are useless unless you can get shielded coax
outside your house to a real antenna far from your computer. With the R75,
you can turn off the computer (or at least the CRT) whenever you want.

Buy the Icom and download Ham Radio Deluxe (get the latest beta version)
and you won't be disappointed. The RX-320 is cheaper and "DRM-ready" but
computer noise can be a problem.., I have RF chokes on all the cables. If
you are very interested in CW, the RX-320 is fine and some extra shareware
can add DSP filtering. The RX-320 is worth the money, but shortly you
might be kicking yourself for not getting a real radio like the Icom
instead of a virtual one.

BTW, both radios can use the free ILGS shortwave database... without which
program listening is just fumbling in the dark. Once warmed up and
calibrated, the two radios are about equal in stability and display
accuracy down to a few Hertz.

--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA