"Jim" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:27:17 -0500, "Michael Lawson"
wrote:


Here would be a good test: on 5975, there's our old buddy,
the BBC. On 5980, there's RTV Marocaine (Morocco). On
the occasional days when the BBC isn't running on 5975,
I can listen to Moroccan music on 5980. However, the BBC
simply overwhelms my reception of Marocaine on most
days on my S800. Can an R8/R8A/R8B pull Marocaine out?
That, I don't know, but the tools to do it are there on the
R8's, whereas on the S800, you're rather limited to the sync
and the 6/4/2.3 bandwidths.

The outstanding sync on the S800 eliminates the need for all those
"tools" on the R8. Got a het? Gone with the sync. Splatter
from
a nearby blowtorch? Gone with the sync. The 6/4/2.3 bandwidths
are
identical to the R8's, BTW. The R8 also has 1.8 and .5, which are
pretty much useless except for code, and I don't listen to that.

BTW, the S800 passes your above BBC/Morocco test, in 5 seconds by
pressing a *single button*! The R8 can do it also, but only after
5
minutes of manual knob twiddling.

I know which method *I* prefer. YMMV.

Just to make sure that I wasn't hearing things, I tried
it myself just now. I can get Marocaine in for about
a half a minute before the BBC bleeds in and starts
to overwhelm the sync. There are patches of time
when it is audible over the junk, but then the BBC
simply overwhelms it again. Considering that the
BBC is at s9+20, and Marocaine is somewhere
between S5-S7 (I notice the s-meter bumping up
to S9, but it's in time with the BBC bleedover, not
Marocaine itself), it's not a big surprise.

Can I read it well enough to ID it?? Probably so
if I constantly tinker with the sync, fiddle with trying
ECSS and the attenuator, and lower the filter to 2.3.
If I want to listen to it for more than a minute or so,
however, I'd want a bit more than what the sync alone
can give me. Passband offset would be nice, as would
a good notch and much better front end selectivity.

Is my Sat 800 defective?? No. It's always done this
(it was one of the first Sat 800's out there), and I've
just acknowledged that that's part of the difference
between a $500 radio and a kilobuck radio. Last fall,
I sent my Sat 800 to Drake for a general tuneup, and
with the exception of a couple of caps replaced, it
was fine. Got the Sat 800 back, and it still does the
same thing. That tells me that what I'm asking it to
do is something that it simply has a hard time doing.

--Mike L.