BEST GENERAL COVERAGE HF RX FOR UNDER $1500 ???

[KL7OF]

The main use would be on the ham bands....with shortwave broadcast and searching for pirates and military transmissions #2.  to be used with ham dipoles and a beverage farm.....SDR,Racal,Yacomwood, ?  Tell me what you favor and why....  Thanks

[W1UJR]

R390A.
Why, that's easy.
First, milspec.
Second, good enough for the military, good enough for my shack.

[w3jn]

Beg to differ, Bruce, the R-390 due to its L/C IF filters doesn't have the ringing and phase distortion that a R-390A has.  Downside of the R-390 is that parts aren't as readily available, and that pair of 6082 pass regulators make a ton of heat.  But I prefer the 390 over the 390A all other things being equal (price, condition, availability, etc).  Generally though you can find R-390As more readily and better condition/less expensive.

I presume you're looking at modern radios?  If you need sync detection, passband tuning, etc., any of the Drake R-8 series would fit the bill.  If you want superb performance but minimal features and one of the lowest distortion AM detectors out there, the W-J 8716 is outstanding.  I'm not a fan of the Racal RA-6790, too much noise.  Probably the best professional grade RX I have is a Harris RF-590.  Be aware that many pro receivers do not have a provision for muting in conjunction with a xmitter (the RF-590, however, does have muting).  The Cubic R-3030 (2 RXs in one package) is outstanding too and is one of the only pro RXs to have passband tuning.

Riceboxes?  Can't tell you much, other than stay away from the Icom general coverage receivers (R-70/71/75 etc), poorly made and lots of noise.  I presume most of the GC ricebox latemodel transceivers have decent receivers - my FT1000MP is good but has some DSP features that don't work on AM.  Very maddening.

[W1UJR]

Beg to differ, Bruce, the R-390 due to its L/C IF filters doesn't have the ringing and phase distortion that a R-390A has.  Downside of the R-390 is that parts aren't as readily available, and that pair of 6082 pass regulators make a ton of heat.  But I prefer the 390 over the 390A all other things being equal (price, condition, availability, etc). 

Oh that pesky mechanical filter thing.
Guess my ears can't tell the difference.

But you're correct John, I've heard folks say that before.
Still, from a practical standpoint of price and serviceability, I like the A version.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

An Icom IC-756 PRO II can be had for $1500 or less. Ham bands from 160 to 6 meters. General coverage from .03 Mhz to 60 MHz; all modes; full DSP on receive and transmit (never have to buy another filter); able to connect directly to the modulator for connection of outboard audio; sounds great on AM transmit; bandwidth on AM receive opens to 9 KHz; accurate spectrum display for receive and transmit built-in; plus many other features.

[KF1Z]

As for SDR or rice-boxes...

Kenwood recievers are usually pretty good.....
Icom R-75 is good IF you want to do a LOT of mods on SMD boards.

For SDR,  check out the QS1R, or the HPSDR project...  first.
Then look at the SDR-IQ, and SDR-14 by RfSpace.

The QS1R allows you to see the entire HF band on your screen, (50mhz worth).
Still needs the front end board, or a good preselector.

For the use you described SDR may be the way to go...
Because you'll be able to record large chunks of bandwidth, and go back later and pick out signals to listen to...


Oh yes, and the QS1R is basically a 15khz to 60mhz RX....
But can be used to about 300mhz in 'undersampling mode".
Again you need to build, or attach filters, and pre-amps for those frequencies....

I can listen to my local 2 meter repeaters with it...etc.


The AM audio is pretty darn good, has sync AM etc...
The audio filter can be opened as far as 40khz...
(I listen to QIX, W1IA, And KBW on about 20khz...the sound is fantastic.)

[KL7OF]

How does one use a Racal 6790 with a tx with no muting?  what is the difference between the 6790 and 6790GM?  JN,  When you say the racal is noisy,  Is the difference huge between say the R-390-A, the R388, and the SP-600 or the SX-28a?   I have Hi freq hearing loss ....The kind that comes to age 50+ men that have worked in noisy envionments ....   

[ka3zlr]

The main use would be on the ham bands....with shortwave broadcast and searching for pirates and military transmissions #2.  to be used with ham dipoles and a beverage farm.....SDR,Racal,Yacomwood, ?  Tell me what you favor and why....  Thanks

Well Steve this is my favorite Subject Receiving,

 For my Analytical work I have my two fav's Tentec RX340 and my Drake R8B both are very computer friendly and very usable for piping off signals for study. I don't put in as much time as i used to but they were very dependable and worked very well, but time has gone on and Age and operating practice has changed here.

 I always liked Drake line receivers even from their early days, I do have a 390 and other assorted receivers here in my collection, but I would be Frugal, Goodies do come with a price tag OM believe me I have a small fortune tied up in my Drake R8...I'll never get out what i got into it...Technology changed to quickly.

 For Today's work I'd Demand DSP Filtering/Processing, Computer connectivity and usability, it's a must, and Believe it or Not I have a Yaesu 897D serial connected here at the upstairs desk and it does a pretty fare job on general coverage/Signal work. an it's cheap...alot of the new rigs are computer friendly and that's the ticket at least in my opinion on Amateur MFG Rigs.



 

[WU2D]

Used or New? A new R-390A is a little more than a $1500 receiver.

1500 does not buy you much today if you are talking new. SDR's are the disruptive technology that will be the final demise of the table top receiver as we know it.

$2600 will buy you an AR-5000 +3 which is a nice receiver for all kinds of signals from DC to Daylight, but it is no R-390. It is however, getting scarce since it was formally discontinued. AOR is releasing a replacement soon. Yes this RX is "junque" to most RX gurus on the AM forum but governments buy these in large quantities because they are COTS and cheap. I just bought 26 of them for a job.

Hope this is helpful.

Mike WU2D

[w3jn]

How does one use a Racal 6790 with a tx with no muting?  what is the difference between the 6790 and 6790GM?  JN,  When you say the racal is noisy,  Is the difference huge between say the R-390-A, the R388, and the SP-600 or the SX-28a?   I have Hi freq hearing loss ....The kind that comes to age 50+ men that have worked in noisy envionments ....   

One way to do it would be to modify it so the RF gain return is remotely switched.  The GM is "government model" and the two are quite different and yes you will notice quite a bit of irritating noise, even on strong signals, with the 6790GM (I should have specified that, I've never owned a straght 6790).

One note about the 6790GM and the WJ8716 - the front end mixers are prone to burnout.  The 6790GM uses a quad of FETs in a ring configuration which are no longer available, to my knowledge.  The 8716 uses a WJ DBM mixer which is no longer available either, but with a few modifications to the PCB traces you can use an off the shelf Mini Circuits +23 dBm mixer.

THe 8716 is also prone to damage on its computer board from leakage of the nicad battery that's supposed to remember the frequency.  However the 8716 is simplicity personified - just selectable filters and mode, RF and audio gain, and a variable BFO frequency adjustment.

[WA1GFZ]

I like the Racal RA6830. The front end is much stronger than early receivers.
Gas discharge tube then an active limiter that will handle 20 watts of input.
The 6830 has a cleaner synthesizer that runs neck and neck with the 590.
3030 has a bit more close in phase noise....
Many 6790 made a lot of noise because the audio level is set way too high.
Lankford has some great mods for the 6790GM
The 6790, 590, 6830, 3030 weak link is the diode switching around the filters hurting ultimate rejection.
I've built around 20 6830s and sold a bunch. Just last week made another happy customer.
The 8716/8718 is a nice radio if you have a good one. The synthesizer performance is good for a radio designed in the '70s
QSR1 is the radio to get if you want to go SDR. gfz

P.S. An R390-/A with Teflon wire and 7360 mixers would be hard to beat. It still has one of the cleanest LOs

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I'll echo John's comments on the original R-390, it's much nicer to listen to than the cost-reduced A model and still does well handling strong signal interference. They are a good 20+ lbs heavier and as John says, those 6082s throw some serious heat, but it's tough to beat a properly-tuned R-390 for smooth listening along with sensitivity and selectivity.

Another nice tube receiver is the Racal RA-17. Quiet, stable, sensitive, and has a cool filmstrip dial vs moving needle. A pita to service, which is why you want to do it right the first time, then sit back and enjoy. Get the matching SSB converter and LF adapter and you're set.

Solid-state stuff isn't my strong suit, so no recommendations. 'GFZ and 'JN will steer you right.