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What's the most enjoyable receiver you've ever owned?
My Zenith Transoceanic, one of the older vacuum tube models, the G500.
By today's standards its big, like a suitcase. Glorious tone controlled by several sound organ buttons. Off the huge SW whip it's still hot as a firecracker sensitivity wise. By the way, the detachable wave-magnet was supposed to be suction cupped onto the window of your commuter train or airliner. Can't you just imagine someone today boarding with such a mega boombox? :) But around the home its more fun than all my modern rigs put together... |
JerryJ-KY wrote: As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. -- Bluegrass DaVinci Fellowship Central Kentucky Group of Shortwave Enthusiasts http://www.bluegrassdavinci.com/ Any of the Hammarlund SP-600 series. Les |
Probably the most enjoyable as an armchair receiver was the Panasonic
RF-5000b. It was Panasonic's luggable answer to the Zenith TO and Sony=AD World Orbiter. It was large, heavy around 22 pounds with an absolute=ADly wonderful audio. The polished metal and black case was wood=AD lined, and the resulting sound was delightfully mellow. It had four antennas, selectable filters (narrow was mechani=ADcal), agc control, bfo, multiple bandswitches across the top and backl=ADighting for individual bands as selected. With a mortgage one could=AD power it with batteries. Otherwise a switchable voltage power supply=AD did the trick. It was no dx machine, but BBC symphonies sounded great. Of =ADcourse audio on AM and FM were superb. With a bfo switch it was po=ADssible to decode ssb. Finding a specific station on the ham bands was hit-or-miss and a challenge. But the intent of this delight=ADful monster was armchair listening to broadcast stations. Sensitivity when new was not great by todays standards, and=AD 30 years had probably taken its toll on electronics. Still it was a =ADjoy to use for 5 years. JerryJ-KY wrote: As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. -- Bluegrass DaVinci Fellowship Central Kentucky Group of Shortwave Enthusiasts http://www.bluegrassdavinci.com/ |
Dear Jerry,
If you've read some of my previous posts, you know I own a Lafayette Model HE-10 receiver, along with its associated speaker, the HE-11. I bought these in April 1962. At that time I also bought a pair of Clevite "Brush" BA-200 headphones. I still have all of these and they still work as well as they did when new. (The only "service" the radio has required is a few tube replacementts.) This was my main short wave radio for 38(!) years until I bought a Grundig Satellit 800 in 2000. Last year I bought what I consider to be the finest short wave radio ever made, the AOR AR7030 Plus. I have never owned (or even seen) a radio that performs like the AR7030. But I will always have a "soft spot" in my heart for that old Lafayette. Every couple of months, I turn it on, wait a half-hour for it to "settle down," and then search out signals, just like in the old days. Even with the same antenna as on the AOR, there is no comparison in sensitivity or selectivity, but there is (and always will be for me) something "magical" about that old radio! Best, Joe |
"JerryJ-KY" wrote in message . com... As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? Three stand out from the pack for us: Classic radio: Collins R-392, the watertight "little brother" to the R-390/A. (this was the only radio I ever owned that I could squirt with a garden hose in the backyard on a 95° F Summer day, while it was still turned on, and it kept right on playing !!) Modern radio(s): Drake SW-8 and the Yaesu-Musen FRG-7. (..the Drake SW-8 was rather quirky in it's control pad layout but it was great to put in a few D-Cell batteries and take it camping) |
JerryJ-KY wrote in
. com: As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. Sangean ATS-803a so far is the best. |
Probably my Yaesu FRG 7000 or FRG7, or DX-302. I like all the knob turning
involved in dialing in a "Wadley loop" type radio. "JerryJ-KY" wrote in message . com... As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. -- Bluegrass DaVinci Fellowship Central Kentucky Group of Shortwave Enthusiasts http://www.bluegrassdavinci.com/ |
"raoul" wrote:
Did you ever put D-sizes in the FRG-7? I don't own one but a friend does. He's never put "D"s in but it is possible. raoul 3 or 4 times every year, I do. Expect decent battery life with headphones on and dial lights off. I think a gel cell might be the way to go, though, or NiMH batteries, and am looking into this. The battery boxes on the FRG7s you might see for sale nowadays are getting more rare. Folks tended to leave batteries in the battery box, and they would leak, destroying the assembly. I think the FRG7 is the most fun receiver I've ever used, and to tie in with another thread, it's really very quiet. Overall, it's a wonderful radio for everyday use - my other radios rarely are used. 73, Steve |
A lowly Realistic DX-120, a Xmas gift from the folks, will always have a warm
spot in this hipster's memory. Even designed a regen mod, which boosted signal reception. After garnering a QSL from ORF Vienna, Austria, one of those grizzled tech sarge's said that pup didn't have enuff guts to snag a signal that weak. He swore(literally) that I'd used another sarge's Hammarlund. That 120 didn't survive time's ravages as well as its' replacement DX-160(still goin' strong, but replaced by a Yaesu FRG-7). But that 120 was as seminal in cultivatin' an interest in shortwave as a tubed Fisher professional amp was in germinatin' a hi-fi addiction! B.T.W. pismoclam, had some of that legendary Pismo Beach clam chowder in breaded bowl a few years' back enroute to Santa Barbara. ' Twas da B-O-M-B Bubba!!! |
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William, N6PY Bill, of the West Coast A.M.I. Net, 3.870mhz & Friday night
Collins Net, 3.895mhz, has a few articles on the legendary SX-28 in upcoming Electric Radio issues. |
William Mutch wrote:
In article , says... As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. I once had an SX-28. I'm *really* sorry I sold it. It went magic places in the midnight hour. For the old-time romance of knob-twiddling and the feeling of "listening to the world": The '37 Zenith blackface. For the sheer capabilities and ease of use, the Icom R-75. Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
My first SW radio, an unkwon Zentih.
Then My Heathkit GR64., with a Q-multiplier no less. The excitment of discovering SSB and CW. Then the Friday my first R2000 arrived. My wife and I took off work, took her VW transporter (a bigger version of the MicroBus) to the Red River Gorge for a mini-DXepiditon. I was hooked on the R2000. Smooth tuning, great sound. Well thought out controls for the user. It is still my favorite SW radio. So much so that I bought another when the opertunity arrose. For the mini-DX events we now use a set of DX398s, good, small radios, but not a R2000. My wife insisted on a SW of her own when I bought the first DX398 on closeout at radio shack. Terry |
The year was 1973 - the receiver: DX150B Eventually I added a homebrew preselector... some IF Transfilters... a frame-loop antenna.. The absolute pinnacle: Picking up Germany and USSR on 872 Khz on subsequent evenings in the fall of 1976.. from the West Coast of Canada.. As I look over my shoulder, I see the DX150B, its dial lights still glowing, its sound as sweet.... /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ www.coffeecrew.com Colin Newell's Daily Grind rnewell AT vcn DOT bc DOT ca \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ |
When I bought my R2000 (used in 1995) I had taken a big step..
still have it.. it has the VHF Convertor and a Collins filter in the narrow position.. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ www.coffeecrew.com Colin Newell's Daily Grind rnewell AT vcn DOT bc DOT ca \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ |
Depends what it's used for I guess...I always liked transoceanics
for casual MW use...I still have a 58 model under the table, but don't use it as the caps were starting to flake out a bit. Back in the early 70's when I really started listening alot, I used only a small philco portable, http://web.wt.net/~nm5k/r6.jpg ,but heard a half zillion stations. Got my moneys worth, thats for sure... Back in those days, "I was in jr.hi", something like a drake 2c, which a friend of mine had, was like a cadillac... I didn't own a 2c until the early 80's...Anyway, as far as my shortwave BC, that philco probably heard the most stations. After that, and even now, I'm not really that interested in SW BC...More ham, and utility, etc...I'll listen to a SW-BC station once in a blue moon these days. My most fun radio these days? The IC-706mk2g hands down. It does nearly *everything* in a box the size of car stereo...Of course, it's a transceiver, so it talks, but it's also wide coverage rcve...Longwave to 200 mhz straight line, and then from 400-470 mhz. All modes on all bands...It's quite good on MW-SW, but is also a killer scanner for VHF/UHF. Better receiver than most "scanners", and has 4 scan modes. I could sell every piece of gear in this shack, and leave just that 706, and still do everything I normally do...Home, mobile, portable. For it's real dinky size, it's a killer radio...It's no contest rig, but it's way more versatile than most contest rigs being it covers VHF/UHF also. These days, the chance of me buying a stand alone receiver are pretty low. I'd almost always buy a transceiver, so I can really get my moneys worth...I spent $900 on the 706 in 2001...It's less than that now. Maybe $750 plus or minus...So far, not a lick of trouble, and it's on 24/7. Knock on wood...:/ MK |
I get the most use out of my SW2, as it's my bedside radio. I really
like having the R8B and the R-75 for technical sophistication and computer control, but the SW2 gets the most use. On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 01:33:24 GMT, JerryJ-KY wrote: As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. |
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Great thread Jerry.
My most "enjoyable" would have to be a Sony ICF-2003 purchased back in the late 80's. It was made in Japan from 1987-1991. - SSB mode in addition to AM - external antenna jack - Continous coverage 153KHz - 30MHz I received it as a birthday gift after much begging and pleading. Now I am using a professional receiver, however I still have that little Sony and it still works great after 15 years. Lloyd JerryJ-KY wrote in message .com... As an aside to sdaniel3's thread further down, what's the shortwave receiver that gave you the most "fun" while listening? It doesn't have to necessarily be the best rig, just the one that was the most enjoyable to work with. Mine is probably a Grundig S350 bought a few months ago. Definitely not a top performer, but great audio and portable. |
I was 12 years old. The Family had an old non-working Zenith 6s222
black dial. By some miracle I was able to get it going again. I remember late nights tuning that beautiful dial searcing for stories from around the world. Sure wish I had that old radio again. What a wonderful experience! I've had much better receivers since but none has provided the enjoyment of that old Zenith. Bruce Kizerian www.elmerdude.com |
my first SWL receiver was from a Boy Scout merit badge booklet (early 1960s) featuring a super-regenerative superhetrodyne multi-tube rcvr. Much better than some of the later "replacements" (S-38..), except that cosmetically mine was built on a aluminum baking tin chassis ;-) ;-) Besides nostalgia, the bands are much more crowded today so those same older radios don't work as well without help in the selectivity dept... my most unusual radio was a ham receiver Mosley CM-1 which used the same tube type thru out the radio ;-) Must have gotten a great buy in surplus? ;-) ;-) grins bobm -- ************************************************** ********************* * Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 * ********************Standard Disclaimers Apply************************* |
Bob Monaghan wrote:
.. my most unusual radio was a ham receiver Mosley CM-1 which used the same tube type thru out the radio ;-) Must have gotten a great buy in surplus? ;-) ;-) grins bobm Boy, the word "surplus" brings back memories. When I was growing up in Detroit ('50's-'60's) there was a huge store in town called "Gell's Civilian PX". Anything - and I mean *anything* - ever made for or used by the military could be found there for amazing prices. More than one buddy of mine had a SW receiver that was military surplus - heavy, dark, muscular-looking cabinets with huge dials. Then, almost overnight it seems, the "Military Surplus Store" was a thing of the past, for the most part. There is one near me right now. Canteen covers and post-Desert Storm polyester field jackets is about the extent of the true "military surplus" they have. Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
Back in the 1940's and 1950's there was an Army surplus store on either
Pearl Street or Pascagoula Street in down town Jackson and that store had all kinds of Military surplus things for sale to anybody.The only so-called Military "surplus" store that I know of in this area nowdays is Dave's Military store just across the Pearl River from Jackson on Highway 80 in Pearl,Mississippi and that store is the same kind of modern Military "surplus" store you speak.They have a little Poodle dog in there and that dog will bark his ass off at anybody who walks in that store. cuhulin |
That woman down the street around the corner on Carter Circle.
cuhulin |
My Hallicrafters S20R. You had to be there. :-)
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
Boy, the word "surplus" brings back memories. When I was growing up in Detroit ('50's-'60's) there was a huge store in town called "Gell's Civilian PX". Anything - and I mean *anything* - ever made for or used by the military could be found there for amazing prices. More than one buddy of mine had a SW receiver that was military surplus - heavy, dark, muscular-looking cabinets with huge dials. Then, almost overnight it seems, the "Military Surplus Store" was a thing of the past, for the most part. There is one near me right now. Canteen covers and post-Desert Storm polyester field jackets is about the extent of the true "military surplus" they have. Tony So, why did the real military surplus stores disappear? I'd think that the military has just as much, if not more, aging items it could sell off. What happened? Steve |
So, why did the real military surplus stores disappear? I'd think that
the military has just as much, if not more, aging items it could sell off. What happened? I'd guess that their customers disappeared. Shopping at military-surplus stores just isn't what your typical American consumer is into these days, just as we don't go to railroad-salvage stores anymore to buy cases of dented cans of Campbell's soup. Just the same, there's Sherper's and American Science and Surplus here in the Milwaukee area that usually have plenty of real, honest-to-goodness military surplus stuff. |
) writes: Boy, the word "surplus" brings back memories. When I was growing up in Detroit ('50's-'60's) there was a huge store in town called "Gell's Civilian PX". Anything - and I mean *anything* - ever made for or used by the military could be found there for amazing prices. More than one buddy of mine had a SW receiver that was military surplus - heavy, dark, muscular-looking cabinets with huge dials. Then, almost overnight it seems, the "Military Surplus Store" was a thing of the past, for the most part. There is one near me right now. Canteen covers and post-Desert Storm polyester field jackets is about the extent of the true "military surplus" they have. Tony So, why did the real military surplus stores disappear? I'd think that the military has just as much, if not more, aging items it could sell off. What happened? Steve "Surplus stores" may have existed before, but clearly they got a big boost (or were created) after WWII where there was a shift from a massive war footing to peacetime. There was indeed a lot of surplus, ie things that were no longer needed by the military. There was a lot of stuff and it was cheap, for the surplus dealers to grab up and hence for the customer to guy. That stuff lasted a long time. I was able to buy a brand new Command Set transmitter for ten dollars in 1972, I seem to recall that it was even in some packaging. As time progresses, such large wars are a thing of the past. Yes, there has been near constant war somewhere, but it is generally handled by the usual level of equipment. There are no spikes, where suddenly massive amounts of equipment need to be bought, and then nobody wants it afterwards. So there is much less surplus than there was as a result of WWII ending. I suspect what there is, is increasingly bought up by other countries (within whatever rules there are about export), to be used by their armed forces. It's cheaper than buying new, but since it's a necessity they can outbid the surplus dealers that remain. IN WWII, much of the equipment was pretty generic, give or take some cypher equipment. A radio receiver was a radio receiver, and a teletype machine was no different from a "civilian" version except maybe it was painted green. I suspect more and more, military equipment is specialized. It has the cypher equipment built into the receiver, and that Teletype machine is now a computer, that may be built to certain specifications. Given that, they don't want that stuff to go out on the market, because they don't want everyone to have those capabilities. Hence I suspect there is much more that will be destroyed rather than put on the market. Another fact likely rides on all of this. Surplus was once a relatively big thing. The stores were small, but I think they tended to be a bigger part of the culture. The neighborhoods where the stores were have changed, driving up rent prices and the owners have aged or even died. So no matter what surplus is still available, it's no longer distributed the same way. Michael |
wrote:
Boy, the word "surplus" brings back memories. When I was growing up in Detroit ('50's-'60's) there was a huge store in town called "Gell's Civilian PX". Anything - and I mean *anything* - ever made for or used by the military could be found there for amazing prices. More than one buddy of mine had a SW receiver that was military surplus - heavy, dark, muscular-looking cabinets with huge dials. Then, almost overnight it seems, the "Military Surplus Store" was a thing of the past, for the most part. There is one near me right now. Canteen covers and post-Desert Storm polyester field jackets is about the extent of the true "military surplus" they have. Tony So, why did the real military surplus stores disappear? I'd think that the military has just as much, if not more, aging items it could sell off. What happened? Steve I think the main part of the reason - not all of it - is this: There are many reasons we eventually won WWII. The one least discussed or understood is possibly the single most important one: We OUT-SUPPLIED the Axis to death! We had, in effect, zero war production on Dec 8, 1941. In a superhuman effort, we had tied all axis countries combined by late 1943, and in 1944/early 45, we *really* took off. Remember, even the big brass thought we would have to invade mainland Japan to end the war, and that would have been a *massive* undertaking. Supplies were manufactured with that in mind. Then, suddenly, it was over, and untold millions of tons of rapidly obsolescing equipment was left. Consider thousands of surplus stores all over the USA, and the governmet "attic" kept them supplied until it all ran out (something like 20 years or more). By that time, they'd changed the rules, and actual war material production was a fraction of what it was in 1945, and you are left with what passes for "surplus" stores today. As I said, that's not all of it, but it's a lot of it. Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
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