On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 02:12:14 GMT, "Lisa Simpson"
wrote:

Based on your comments, now I am less sure I want the R75. My listening
interest is purely SW. Based on that, what tabletop model would be the
best?

Lotsa opinions expected! : }


If you want to buy new then you are limited to:
AOR 7300
Icom R75
NRD-545
Ten-Tec RX-340
Ten-Tec RX-350
Palstar R30 and it's variants (dependent on the filter choice)
Yaesu FRG-100

Of these, the Icom, Palstar and Yaesu are in the same price class
around 600 dollars, the others range from 1200 - 1800 dollars except
the RX-340 which is a bit over 4000 dollars.

Having gone through this decision myself the first thing I did was to
think about how much of my budget I wanted to put into the hobby and
that left me looking at the 600 dollar range. Was looking at the
Yaesu and Icom and was hard pressed to decide which to buy - ended up
with the Icom as I was able to pick one up that had been traded in
when the owner bought the RX-340. For the less than the Yaesu the
Icom had the extra filters I wanted (at the time - would consider
replacing the narrow with a wider filter for program listening), the
KIWA mods were done and it had the voice synthesizer. I've been happy
with it and will also testify that Telamon's comments about it are
valid - had I not been aware of the audio issue I would've been
disappointed with the radio. The manual is not very well written in
terms of explaining how to use some of the menu items and controls;
there is a Yahoo Group for R75 users (and is open to all) and you can
find decent support from folks there to compensate for the manual.

If you are okay with buying used try to find a Drake R8 series, if
somebody is willing to sell one 8-} Perhaps a JRC 515, 525 or 535 -
perhaps somebody familiar with those could comment on which is the
best to look for.

Hope that helps.