Interesting thread..
A virtual trip down memory lane for me. I had the FRG 7, FRG 7700,
Kenwood R-1000 and now the FRG 100B.

Hands down the FRG 100 has been the best by far. Ease of operation,
rock stable and frequency accurate.
Audio for me has not been objectionable though I use headphone most
of the time and a nice communications external speaker other wise.

There are many user selectable settings and functions that make the
FRG 100 a snap to use....but you REALLY DO NEED TO READ THE MANUAL to
put those functions to task.

For me the FRG 7 was not even as good as my portable Panasonic
RF-2800. The selectivity was poor on both FRG 7's I owned. Sensitivity
was OK but stability was another propblem.

The R-1000 I had would drift a little until it had warmed up for about
1/2 an hour. Only a slight problem if you were listening to SSB or
exhaulted carrier transmissions. After 30 minutes though it was fine
and drifted only 10 to 20 cycles per hour . Quite usable for copying
an AM signal on SSB mode.
The only other thing I encountered with the R-1000 was a bit of
muliplexer noise from the display. I was using a short random wire
without a proper rf ground. I expect that if I had a proper RF ground
or used un-balanced line to feed an antenna out doors this noise would
not have been heard.
I always felt that for the money it was a good buy and still is at
$100-$200 on the used market.

Also had an R-2000 that had a lot of spurs and constant problems with
the push buttons on it. Sold down the road quickly.

My FRG 7700 was only slightly better to use than the FRG 7. The 7700
had teritble audio and was not a lot of "fun" (try to define fun!). I
sold it pretty quickly too.

For dedicated SW use the FRG 100 is a great value. Lots of features
and technology. The one I presently use on my night stand is my third
one. This one has the Temp Compensated Crystal Oven making it the best
yet.
However SWLing for me does not hold the magic that it did when I
started in the early 60's. The FRG 100 is relegated to listening to a
local broadcast AM station that hosts "Coast to Coast AM". Pretty much
a waste of a fine receiver I admit. ( Some would argue that using any
radio to listen to Coast To Coast constitutes waste in itself...that
would be a different thread! )

In fact after writing this reply post I have decided to sell the
FRG-100
Check out rec.radio.swap
Ron

In article ,
Ron wrote:
The R-1000 I had would drift a little until it had warmed up for about
1/2 an hour. Only a slight problem if you were listening to SSB or
exhaulted carrier transmissions. After 30 minutes though it was fine
and drifted only 10 to 20 cycles per hour . Quite usable for copying
an AM signal on SSB mode.

You got a better one than I have. It's prone to 50 Hz jumps at
any old time. Made narrowband RTTY and TOR monitoring a babysitting
operation.

The only other thing I encountered with the R-1000 was a bit of
muliplexer noise from the display. I was using a short random wire
without a proper rf ground. I expect that if I had a proper RF ground
or used un-balanced line to feed an antenna out doors this noise would
not have been heard.

Strange. Given all the stuff in there, I'm amazed that I can't pick up
anything except the 3.2768 MHz clock for the counter, a few spurs in the
15 MHz band (1/3 the first IF, I think) , and some 1 MHz harmonics in
the 20-30 MHz range. On the other hand, if you fire up a low band VHF
scanner next to it, there's an amazing amount of crap. It would make
a good 6 meter transmitter VFO if you tapped into the first LO.

I always felt that for the money it was a good buy and still is at
$100-$200 on the used market.

Where do you find one that cheap? ;-)

Mark Zenier Washington State resident