Opinions on Favorite Receivers

[N0WVA]

Knightkit R100A 

[Steve - K4HX]

Irb loved the S20R. He could hear things no one else could.

[Jim/WA2MER]

Irb...could hear things no one else could.

I'm not sure that the receiver had anything to do with that.

[W2JRO]

Knightkit R100A 

My first receiver as a novice. I had, based on the sample of r-100a's I have seen, a fairly rare dark grey front panel/dark grey chassis model.
It had the q multiplier. I got real good at barely moving the bandspread dial to get up/down the 50kc novice cw band. I teamed it with a Eico 720/730 combo with a Johnson 122. I used this on an almost daily basis for 4 years and the r100a never let me down. I worked plenty of 10m AM DX in the mid to late 70's.

[W4EWH]

Drake 2-B. It was the most underrated ham receiver ever made.

Bill, W1AC

[W1RC]

Drake 2-B. It was the most underrated ham receiver ever made.

Bill, W1AC

I tend to agree.  Especially if you have the accessory 2-BQ Q multiplier speaker and the super-scarce low frequency plug-in adapter.  I bought one in the early 1970s and still have it.

73,

MrMike, W1RC

[W3GMS]

As others have said, sometimes its not about the best performing receiver from a technical standpoint but rather the look and feel of the receiver your using.  Some receivers sometimes just get very comfortable like an old set of shoes! 

Saying that, Jay W1VD has done an excellent job at taking measurements on some of the technical aspects of various receivers.  I find it enjoyable to look at his measurements and then conclude just as discussed that some of my favorites are not the best from a measurement perspective. 

http://www.w1vd.com/BAreceivertest.html

Joe, W3GMS 

[KM1H]

I had a 2B 1963-5 and hated it, a very tiring radio to listen to.  Didnt know why until decades later when Jay did the tests.
http://www.w1vd.com/Drake2-B.html

Also folded up on 40M during a CW contest fith a full size ground plane at 70 atop a pine tree.

[Jim/WA2MER]

My NC-200 continues to be my all-time favorite receiver to date for AM.  Very stable for a 1940 receiver, great sounding audio from P-P 6V6s and spot-on dial calibration.  It's main drawback IMO is that it's not the most attractive radio from the era, but I have it to listen to and not to look at.

I've had an R-390A and it's everything that it's cracked up to be from a performance perspective, but I was never able to bond with it.  I launched it after about a year.  In this case I agree with Joe, it's not about the best performer but instead about what you like.  I also owned an SP-600-JX17 that did nothing for me...kinda like kissing your sister (to dust off an old cliche).

One of my favorite boat anchor receivers is the much-vilified 75A-4.  Say what you will about it, but it does a great job for me doing what it was designed to do: copy SSB.

[N2DTS]

I never found one I really liked for use with transmitting.
When on the air, the things I want in a receiver change from just listening.
I guess the R390a I had came closest to a good tube receiver for use in a qso.
No 6Kc filter, lots of background hiss, not easy to band hop on, clamps tended to break.

Many were very good looking, some were great sounding, some were accurate and had good frequency resolution, some were stable, some had good selectivity selections, some were quiet, some had an IF output for a scope, none were all of the above. Most were too narrow, had bad detectors, and/or you were guessing what frequency you were on.

ALL the modern ham receivers I have tried were REALLY bad, but the sdr stuff can be very good.

I took all the things I wanted and built them into a homebrew, and use an sdr-iq as a band scope.

[KL7OF]

No one has mentioned the RBA-RBB_RBC  Built for the Navy by RCA...I use the RBC on 20 meter AM and it performs very well...The filters-(Broad, Med, and Sharp) work well to cut down the QRM...and it receives SSB quite well in the CW mode.Very sensitive   and very well built...The audio output is single ended and designed to power multiple sets of headphones but it sounds pretty good driving an 8 ohm speaker right out of the headphone jack...Very large...big power supply that is capable of running 2 receivers...takes up a lot of space ..I have an RBB but its not working...

[W2PFY]

RCA  USN RBB and RBC are in a class of their own. They seldom show and are gone fast. These radios define battle conditions in more ways than just on 75M!

No one has mentioned the RBA-RBB_RBC

Above from Carl. Not too much experience here other than a 51J3 that I was not too crazy about. Sold it for good money. I like my R390A and have learned a lot about it when it breaks down.

What is the RBA about?

[KM1H]

Yep, I had the pleasure of spending several years with all 3 aboard ship in the 60's and that prompted me to obtain a RBB and RBC here.

While not exactly current tech the RBA etc family was preceeded by the also RCA designed RAK/RAL which are arguably the pinnacle of regen development. Im amazed every time I turn either one on. There was a set of those on one ship in Emergency Radio which was also the ET shack and I haywired the RAL to work with a TCS-13 that ran off a huge bank of batteries out in the passageway and a dynamotor. Full QSK CW on 40M as /MM. Some of the RM's used to come in and listen to me rattling off at 35-40 WPM with a Vibroplex Presentation. That bug was a 16th birthday present which I still have but havent used in over 20 years....Im keyer spoiled now.
I also stood in for RM duty when needed after passing "speed key" certification, no way would I sit a slow CW straight key circuit   Used to do a lot of high speed traffic handling when in HS where I learned to type from Mom and a couple of GF's.

Carl