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You can
write your own review of the HARRIS RF-3200.
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WA2JJH
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Rating: 5/5
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May 12, 2004 00:46
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Send this review to a friend
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Commercial radio suited well for ham use
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I first bought a Harris 1446u. Huge size, mil spec, 1.6-30 MHZ TX and RX. Problem...No VFO knob.
This made it impractical for ham use.
I then saw the later model Harris RF-3200. W1AW had one.This radio looks like the ICOM 718.
This radio is very unique in circuit design. It is built very well. Meets mil spec standards, however it is sold for commercial HF use.
This radio has a solid 150Watts output. This is enhanced by 4 types of audio processing. The end result is at least double your average PEP, however the audio sounds like it has not been processed!This is good because the speech enhancements are on all the time.
A combination of a small amout of audio copression, companding, high freq. boost and an advanced ALC circuit are used.
The ALC processing was used on the KENWOOD TS-520. The ALC was allowed to rise quicker and decay slower.
The Harris uses the 16 bit CPU to vary the ALC in real time. The ALC is like that in other rigs. However most rigs just use the ALC to reduce the finals drive. The CPU controlled ALC will boost the drive for higher vice peaks only when no distortion will be produced.
The highs in the audio are boosted too. Kenwood did this trick button on the TS-850.
A CPU controlled audio compressor and compander are used as well.
The result is great undistorted audio. No background noise, and a signal that will cut through QRM. However it does not sound like a speech proc is on!
The RX uses high level mixing like the DRAKE TR-7 ans R-7. The 1st IF is pre-ampless and has a pin diode attenuator in front of it.
The CPU samples the RX audio. From the sample it will automaticly select the amount and decay of AGC,AVC and RF gain! To reduce the RF gain, if a strong signal comes in. A voltage is sent to the PIN diode attenuator. The RX is optimised right from the front end!
Sound like DSP? IT IS NOT. However many of the circuits are adjusted in real time by the CPU
It is CPU optimisation of analogue circuits, that makes this transceiver better than many rigs today.
The commercial rigs also have higher specs on spectral purity.
There are very few knobs to play with. Before you say it is an appliance operators rig, think again. This rig has an RX that is better than the DRAKE TR-7. I then compared it next to my DRAKE R7A. The R7A was slighlty less noisy.
The main complaint of the rig is the fact it is noisy when there are no signals to receive. The Harris added more IF gain to compensate for the high level conversion. However as soon as a weak signal comes in the Harris receives it just fine.
The VFO has 3 positions for speed. each position has 2 speeds. One can tune ultra slow in 10HZ steps or tune in 100KC steps. Tuning in 100KC steps is the way you do your band selection!
It is faster than having a band switch!
This radio is simply great and unique.
If you see one on ebay for under $1400, you will not go wrong!
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