On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 02:09:15 GMT, Monroe wrote:

Looking to upgrade from a Panasonic RF-3100. Just got off of an
"exiciting" ebay excursion for an older Kenwood R-5000 and have been
considering a R-75 w/ DSP from Universal. Something that has always
been gnawing at me was the use of an HF transceiver for shortwaver
reception. There is routinely a large inventory of used HF receivers
available about my area; mostly HF nets/clubs and the like. Actual
HF/shortwave/comm's receivers are hard to come by here.

Are any of these used receivers notable in performance/feature set for
shortwave reception?

thanks

HF transceivers work fine for shortwave reception, and the older ones
typically may be just as cheap or cheaper than similar
receiver-only's. They do lack the sync detector, if that is important
to you. Also, make sure they have an AM filter of 6 khz or more for AM
listening -- a 2 or 3 khz SSB filter isn't wide enough for decent AM
sound fidelity.

Otherwise, for tabletop receivers, the Japan Radio Company models are
pretty damned good; I have a 525 that's held up well and has a good
feature set (altho' it lacks the sync detector).

If you can locate it, the book "More Radio Receiver -- Chance or
Choice" by Rainer Lichte, or his earlier book, "Radio Receiver --
Chance or Choice" are excellent references about receivers sold during
the last 40 years or so.

bob
k5qwg

Bob Miller wrote:


HF transceivers work fine for shortwave reception, and the older ones
typically may be just as cheap or cheaper than similar
receiver-only's. They do lack the sync detector, if that is important
to you. Also, make sure they have an AM filter of 6 khz or more for AM
listening -- a 2 or 3 khz SSB filter isn't wide enough for decent AM
sound fidelity.

Otherwise, for tabletop receivers, the Japan Radio Company models are
pretty damned good; I have a 525 that's held up well and has a good
feature set (altho' it lacks the sync detector).


While it may not have a sync detector, the AM detector is a correct
implementation of ECSS. (No, I'm not talking about using SSB mode.)

craigm


If you can locate it, the book "More Radio Receiver -- Chance or
Choice" by Rainer Lichte, or his earlier book, "Radio Receiver --
Chance or Choice" are excellent references about receivers sold during
the last 40 years or so.

bob
k5qwg

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:08:43 -0500, craigm
wrote:

Bob Miller wrote:


HF transceivers work fine for shortwave reception, and the older ones
typically may be just as cheap or cheaper than similar
receiver-only's. They do lack the sync detector, if that is important
to you. Also, make sure they have an AM filter of 6 khz or more for AM
listening -- a 2 or 3 khz SSB filter isn't wide enough for decent AM
sound fidelity.

Otherwise, for tabletop receivers, the Japan Radio Company models are
pretty damned good; I have a 525 that's held up well and has a good
feature set (altho' it lacks the sync detector).


While it may not have a sync detector, the AM detector is a correct
implementation of ECSS. (No, I'm not talking about using SSB mode.)

craigm

One of my few complaints about the 525 receiver is distant AM signals
fade in and out, and I understand a sync detector will alleviate that.
bob


If you can locate it, the book "More Radio Receiver -- Chance or
Choice" by Rainer Lichte, or his earlier book, "Radio Receiver --
Chance or Choice" are excellent references about receivers sold during
the last 40 years or so.

bob
k5qwg

I have been using my Yaesu FT-840 for over 7 years for SWL listening. I have added the 6 khz filter and also use it with an old Info-Tech 600 demodulator for SELCAL and RTTY. works great.