Drake R8, Kenwood R-5000, or Grundig Satellit 750?

[KF4WDZ]

I have and have had several portable receivers, and I am looking to get my first real radio.

I'm mostly into AM/WM DX, ham and utility reception. Budget is factor, but if I have to go a bit over $500 I will...yes, it'll hurt a bit if I must spend that much, but I'd really like something good.

The tree I have my eye on are a Drake R8, Kenwood R-5000, or (yes, I know..not in the same class) Grundig Satellit 750.

Any ideas?

[G1WEX]

Being a big fan of Kenwood equipment I would go for the R-5000 but the Drake is also a very fine radio. I know not of the Grundig 750 so cannot comment.

I think you need to go, armed with cash, (and a open mind) and see what is about at the time and go with common sense and a little gut feeling with what 'feels right'.

These sort of questions are difficult because choosing a radio is a very personal thing (and expensive). It needs to be right. I will stick with my comment and go for the Kenwood but it's your money. Whatever you end up with, enjoy.

[AUSSIE]

Hi if you havent got a decent antenna you are not going to get any where doesnt matter what radio you get.I got all 3 radios plus others hooked up to a Wellbrook-ALA1530AL-1 active loop performance is excellent on all main intrest for me is monitoring aircraft on hf..

Regards Lino..

[K0OD]

"...I am looking to get my first real radio"

But you're a ham and none of those are ham radios! I'd find a nice used Kenwood TS-850 or TS-440 in your range. TS-430s go for about $250. Those old Kenwoods hear as well as those SWL toys, plus you can have a ball WORKING worldwide DX on 10 meters, and other bands if you learn CW, or upgrade.  

The TS-850 is something of a cult radio among longwave and AM broadcast band listeners. I was testing mine last night well below its spec'd minimum frequency of 100 KHz. It hears WWVB easily on 60 kHz and picks up some VLF signals down to about 35 kHz. My little 430 picks up European LW broadcasters but its minimum frequency is 150 kHz.    

[DXACE1]

I purchased the R8 I still have back in 1993 from Universal.  I still
have it to this day -- and I have added another R8 obtained through
EBay which was basically in new condition.  I have been through the
R8A and R8B and while they significantly improved the ergonomics,
I have stayed with the R8 because (a) I prefer the heavier knob and
the "feel" of the encoder and (b) I think the R8 still has better audio
than its later versions.

I have and have had several portable receivers, and I am looking to get my first real radio.

I'm mostly into AM/WM DX, ham and utility reception. Budget is factor, but if I have to go a bit over $500 I will...yes, it'll hurt a bit if I must spend that much, but I'd really like something good.

The tree I have my eye on are a Drake R8, Kenwood R-5000, or (yes, I know..not in the same class) Grundig Satellit 750.

Any ideas?

[KA1BIN]

Stay away from the Satellit 750

After owning this comm receiver for a little more than 2 months and maybe using it for about 50 hours, the volume control started shorting out to full volume at any position. It isn't like I rode the control, I barely would touch it under normal operations since I use a volume control on my headset.

Carefully disassembling it reveals that the volume control itself is defective and not mearly a bad solder joint on the AF/Tone PCB.

Looking at case construction shows 3 of the 8 plastic bosses which the self tapping screws go into to be cracked! The unit should have used machine screws that thread into tapped threaded inserts. Even Cheap Japanese and Korean radios of the 1990's used this form of cabinet asssemby, but that would have added 29 cents to the cost of construction.

Another observation was the 1/8" 3.5mm jacks on my unit seem to be extremely tight, it looks like a careless person could easily break these jacks if a male plug is inserted even a few degrees off centerline too quickly or with too much force.

So in summary, even though I believe that the radio operates very good electrically and has a good retail price point. If you look at it too hard, it will fall apart.


Steve KA1SMC (formerly KA1BIN)