I just bought a Kaito model KA1101, and am considering getting an Icom R75;
would you good folks kindly shower me with your reviews and/or opinions of
both please?

R-75 will give you a lot of years of pure joy! Great Rig!..I own 2

The KA1101 aint a bad deal either for portable listening!

This link may give you a little insight into the Icom and a lot of other
rigs.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/8


"Lisa Simpson" wrote in message
. ..
I just bought a Kaito model KA1101, and am considering getting an Icom R75;
would you good folks kindly shower me with your reviews and/or opinions of
both please?

Thanx for this info - just what I was looking for! Anyone else?

"rick" wrote in message
oups.com...
Lisa Simpson wrote:
I just bought a Kaito model KA1101, and am considering getting an Icom
R75;
would you good folks kindly shower me with your reviews and/or opinions
of
both please?

I do not know anything about the Kaito model KA1101 except what others
have to say.

I have an Icom R-75 and it is my primary SWL radio. I also have a
TenTec Rx-320D, a Sangean ATS-803A, and a Sony ICF-SW07. The Ten-Tec
is very good, but you must have a PC to use it. I have an Icom T90A,
but that is a different thing altogether.

My favorite antenna is an Eavesdropper from Antenna Supermarket. It is
setup as an inverted "V" pointed east/west on my roof with its top
at 40 feet in the air and its ends at about 24 feet up off the ground.
My second antenna is an Alpha-Delta DX-SWL set up as a Sloper pointed
north/south. It is a very nice hunk of wire. Lastly is a 180foot long
wire strung north/south from my 3rd floor attic to a tree about 160
feet away with about 20 feed hanging down as an inverted "L". For
reception only the wire does not need a tuner. All three work well
and switching between them usually does not help improve reception.
It does improve directionality and that's why they are all set up.

I have an MFJ-1024 which I would not recommend to anyone for anything
as it is no better than a 20 foot length of wire and much noisier. I
have a bunch of active loops, such as the Sony AN-LP1, but they are not
as good as the long wire or the "V" or the Sloper. They are very
good for travel, and that is when I use them.

I live on the central coast in California up in the hills and am
situated right against a mountain with a clear view west and south.
Everything else is blocked by 200 feet to 800 feet of mountain. In
general, reception is quite poor for everything other than South
America or the Far East. Austrialia, Japan, and China come in well, as
do the hams up and down the coast. Europe is a very hard find.

The R-75 needs a bit of a learning curve to get used to in terms of
tuning and filter setup. But once you have all that under control it
is very nice. Heck, it is very nice right out of the box with no
accessories and may be all you need. There are some websites
discussing the set up and use of this radio. If you want to hook it up
to a computer there are a number of free programs which will allow you
to tune and log and have a ton of fun!

I say go for the R-75. Get ALL the filters, and you will be impressed.
Get them now when you get the radio and before it is too late. Even if
you think you will not use them now, you may find later that you want
them. You may want to learn code and listen in, who knows? The radio
may be around as used for a long time. But if they discontinue it, you
may have a hard time finding the accessories such as filters. You may
not want them now, but if you find you want them later and they are not
available you will be out of luck. I do not have the Kiwa Electronics
mods, but I am told they are worth getting. I have no opinion on that.


I use the radio for SWL, PSK-31, RTTY, most digital modes, and for
listening in on hams and utility stations. It is hooked right into the
PC so I can record and log as much as I like. One thing though, It
took me a long time to convince myself that the R-75 was any better
than the ATS-803. Both are great for SWL, but the usefulness of the
Icom for things other than SW becomes apparent with experience. You
will need a good antenna to get the best out of this radio.

I have the Kaito 1101. It's an absolute bargain! It actually
outperforms my Sony 7600GR on SW, except for the lack of a sync
dectector, which helps stabilize the 7600GR. It's OK on MW, not
terrific, but fine for casual listening. Excellent audio for the size.

Couple of minor drawbacks:
The rechargeable batteries seem to need recharging after about 15-20
hours of use, Limited # of memories (10 per band, incl 20 for SW). No
SSB ( I have several other radios with SSB so it's not a big deal that
the 1101 lacks this). ---Ken

Lisa:

I have owned several Degen/Kaito radios-- the KA-1101, KA-1102 and DE-1103--
all are excellent bargains in their class. The KA1102 is my "little
workhorse" and, while no super-DX machine, it manages to pull in everything
my erstwhile Sangean ATS-803A used to before it bit the dust. I've also had
a Tecsun PL-350 and a couple other small portables that ranged from fairly
deaf to pretty good.

I used to own an Icom IC-718, which is the "ham radio" version of the
venerable R75. The difference being that the IC-718 is a transceiver. I used
it for getting my DXCC (100 DX countries) while I was active in amateur
radio. But I also heard and logged many, many SW broadcasters on that rig. I
sold it about a year ago, because I'm no longer active in amateur radio and
I currently live in RF Hell-- maybe someday, I'll get another. That was a
very, very good rig for the money.

While I am not 100% sure this is the case, I believe the R75 and IC-718 have
the same receiver-- anyone in the know out there wanna chime in on that?
I've fiddled around a number of high-end transceivers and receivers-- all
were very good performers, but some cost a LOT more than others. The IC-718
cost me less than $500 new.

Although I certainly don't consider myself an antenna expert, I've done a
fair amount of reading about them and I've made several of my own, so I can
vouch for the idea of putting effort (or money, if you don't care to make
your own) into a decent antenna. The problem with small portables is that
they tend to overload with a decent outdoor antenna. The Degens/Kaitos are
really pretty good just off the whip, or using the small plug-in antenna
that comes with them. But if you're really into shortwave listening and want
to spring for a really good tabletop rig, a very good antenna will go a
long, long way in helping you to hear as much as you're able, given other
factors you can't control.

A big factor in the ability of shortwave signals to propagate is the sunspot
cycle. We are near or at the bottom of the sunspot cycle now, which means
fewer stations will be heard overall. It should improve somewhat over the
next couple of years, with another peak in about 2010 or 2011. But there are
other factors that determine where and when any signal can be heard, so
don't let the sunspot doldrums thwart your SWL fun.

As a previous poster submitted, the Eavesdropper and Alpha-Delta antennas
are very good choices. I can also point you to some websites where you can
find designs to build your own antenna. There really isn't much to building
a simple long wire or dipole, and it's really satisfying to build an antenna
that will help you to hear the world. I was able to chat with a lady ham in
the Marquesas Islands using a dipole I built myself. It took me all of 45
minutes to make it and string it up in a nearby tree, with some help from a
neighbor. I used that same antenna to listen to many shortwave broadcasters
too.

The rule for antennas I learned was: get as long an antenna as you can (or
as tall as you can) up as high as you can. That said, there are other
installations that can work well for listening purposes-- snaking as much
wire as you can around a balcony; tacking up a thin wire along the ceiling
of a living room, for instance.

A friend of mine actually ran a bunch of wire along his metal rain gutters
and, using an antenna tuner, was able to talk to the world. Pretty cool...

Good listening and 73 (that's best wishes in ham-speak),

Jackie

Thank you! I am having trouble with the charger; it acts like it's
charging, then shuts off. I finally got it to "charge" overnight, and the
batteries were still dead in the morning! I put 3 regular batteries in it &
the radio is working fine. I put the batteries in a separate battery
charger I have to see if maybe I got bum batteries; if not, I'll assume the
charger is bad & try to get it replaced . . .

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have the Kaito 1101. It's an absolute bargain! It actually
outperforms my Sony 7600GR on SW, except for the lack of a sync
dectector, which helps stabilize the 7600GR. It's OK on MW, not
terrific, but fine for casual listening. Excellent audio for the size.

Couple of minor drawbacks:
The rechargeable batteries seem to need recharging after about 15-20
hours of use, Limited # of memories (10 per band, incl 20 for SW). No
SSB ( I have several other radios with SSB so it's not a big deal that
the 1101 lacks this). ---Ken

Thank you very much for this info, very helpful! Please send the link to
the antenna tutorials! If I get that Icom, I'm gonna wanna get all I can
out of it! : }

"Buzzygirl" wrote in message
...
Lisa:

I have owned several Degen/Kaito radios-- the KA-1101, KA-1102 and
DE-1103--
all are excellent bargains in their class. The KA1102 is my "little
workhorse" and, while no super-DX machine, it manages to pull in
everything
my erstwhile Sangean ATS-803A used to before it bit the dust. I've also
had
a Tecsun PL-350 and a couple other small portables that ranged from fairly
deaf to pretty good.

I used to own an Icom IC-718, which is the "ham radio" version of the
venerable R75. The difference being that the IC-718 is a transceiver. I
used
it for getting my DXCC (100 DX countries) while I was active in amateur
radio. But I also heard and logged many, many SW broadcasters on that rig.
I
sold it about a year ago, because I'm no longer active in amateur radio
and
I currently live in RF Hell-- maybe someday, I'll get another. That was a
very, very good rig for the money.

While I am not 100% sure this is the case, I believe the R75 and IC-718
have
the same receiver-- anyone in the know out there wanna chime in on that?
I've fiddled around a number of high-end transceivers and receivers-- all
were very good performers, but some cost a LOT more than others. The
IC-718
cost me less than $500 new.

Although I certainly don't consider myself an antenna expert, I've done a
fair amount of reading about them and I've made several of my own, so I
can
vouch for the idea of putting effort (or money, if you don't care to make
your own) into a decent antenna. The problem with small portables is that
they tend to overload with a decent outdoor antenna. The Degens/Kaitos are
really pretty good just off the whip, or using the small plug-in antenna
that comes with them. But if you're really into shortwave listening and
want
to spring for a really good tabletop rig, a very good antenna will go a
long, long way in helping you to hear as much as you're able, given other
factors you can't control.

A big factor in the ability of shortwave signals to propagate is the
sunspot
cycle. We are near or at the bottom of the sunspot cycle now, which means
fewer stations will be heard overall. It should improve somewhat over the
next couple of years, with another peak in about 2010 or 2011. But there
are
other factors that determine where and when any signal can be heard, so
don't let the sunspot doldrums thwart your SWL fun.

As a previous poster submitted, the Eavesdropper and Alpha-Delta antennas
are very good choices. I can also point you to some websites where you can
find designs to build your own antenna. There really isn't much to
building
a simple long wire or dipole, and it's really satisfying to build an
antenna
that will help you to hear the world. I was able to chat with a lady ham
in
the Marquesas Islands using a dipole I built myself. It took me all of 45
minutes to make it and string it up in a nearby tree, with some help from
a
neighbor. I used that same antenna to listen to many shortwave
broadcasters
too.

The rule for antennas I learned was: get as long an antenna as you can (or
as tall as you can) up as high as you can. That said, there are other
installations that can work well for listening purposes-- snaking as much
wire as you can around a balcony; tacking up a thin wire along the ceiling
of a living room, for instance.

A friend of mine actually ran a bunch of wire along his metal rain gutters
and, using an antenna tuner, was able to talk to the world. Pretty cool...

Good listening and 73 (that's best wishes in ham-speak),

Jackie

"Lisa Simpson" wrote in message
. ..
Thank you very much for this info, very helpful! Please send the link to
the antenna tutorials!

Here's my fave site, TONS of links he

http://ac6v.com/antprojects.htm

Jackie

"Buzzygirl" wrote in message
...

"Lisa Simpson" wrote in message
. ..
Thank you very much for this info, very helpful! Please send the
link to
the antenna tutorials!

Here's my fave site, TONS of links he

http://ac6v.com/antprojects.htm

Now that's a site.

--Mike L.

It's like ask the man who owns a Packard Automobile,Ask the man who
drives a Packard.

Somewhere West of Laramie.

If you like google,google,Somewhere West of Laramie

Laramie,Wyoming.

Speaking of Wyoming,I used to email chat with a highschool girl in
Casper,Wyoming.

Ohhh,where do my old internet chat girl friends disappear to?
Hither,thither,yon and gone.
cuhulin