Although I have a modern transceiver with general receiver coverage, I prefer an old analog dial tube receiver for cruising the SW bands.
The transceiver is not convenient beyond ham bands with the multiple tuning steps required to get to a certain frequency. On the other hand, the tube receiver with the analog dial quickly goes to any HF frequency.
Ham bands is also easily accessible thus I listen more on the Ham Band frequencies as well with the analog dial tube receiver.
The Hallicrafters SX-122 also has a product detector for effortless SSB listening. The SX-122 has a sensitive receiver and the filters have steep enough skirts to not cause selectivity issues. Dual conversion eliminates image issues on the SW bands. The tube audio is as clear as the best SS receivers as well.
Anyone else prefer an older analog dial receiver for cruising the HF bands?
| N2WJW | 2022-05-15 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I actually wish some companies came out with a quality analog receiver. I think analog receivers are great for just scanning around the bands. | ||
| N3EG | 2022-04-01 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| NOTHING beats a SDR waterfall on medium speed and a "slider" vertical tuning bar for out of band non-BC SWLing. The only thing better would be that on a sampling recorder SDR with a replay button and playback decoder. Has that been invented yet? And yes, I still tune around on analog/analog radios within ham bands. | ||
| KB9DNE | 2022-03-16 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I have fun with my rehabbed SX-42 and SX-62. If I want to listen to SSB there's always the transceiver or a Kenwood R-5000. | ||
| KD7RDZI2 | 2022-03-14 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I am spoiled with receivers with waterfall (homebrew, softrocks, modded vintages etc), but yes I perfectly see your point. My vintage Drake 2c modded with waterfall is really convenient to use. Also I am amazed with the MFJ9406, a fully analog transceiver, when there are openings, nothing is faster and a joy to use. It takes nanoseconds to jump from a QSO to another. Analog (no digital readout) is intuitive and fast. | ||
| K7LZR | 2022-03-13 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| In addition to the rigs I mentioned below, I also regularly still use a 1941 vintage BC-454 AKA ARC-5 3-6mhz receiver because I like the sound of it and it is a very quiet receiver. The 3-6mhz range gives me one WWV frequency, 80/75m ham band, and the 90, 75, and 60m SWBC bands. Most of the 49m band too :). | ||
| WB8VLC | 2022-03-08 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| A 1937 Philco floor model with the Cats Eye tuning indicator here. Nothing else needs to be said about this beautiful piece of furniture/radio with crisp clear loud tube audio this beast has everything for SWL listening that a ham xcvr can't even come close to and even though it's only AM that suits me just fine. | ||
| VE3WGO | 2022-03-03 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| When a receiver isn't hearing many SW stations, it says as much about the (lack of) receiving quality of that radio and its antenna, as it does about the number of broadcasters. | ||
| KB0ZOM | 2022-02-28 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| Band scopes are nice, but I still almost always spin the dial. I grew up on a TS 830 so its probably hardwired in somewhere. Spinnin' n grinnin'! | ||
| KG5UN | 2022-02-19 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I disagree with those who think there is nothing to listen to on shortwave any more. WTWW, WRMI both seem to have some really good programming. Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Romania, Voice of Greece, Voice of Turkey, China Radio International etc.. etc.. There is still programming to be heard. You guys can keep your scopes and pan adaptors, radio is still magic to me, I love spinning the knob and listening for signals. A Drake R-4B with the FS-4 frequency synthesizer is the ultimate general coverage rig to me. | ||
| G8FXC | 2022-02-16 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I don't think I can conceive of operating a radio without a wide band panadaptor these days! I don't want to spin a dial hoping to find a signal, I want to take in several MHz at a glance, identify something of interest and tune to it in a fraction of a second with a click of my mouse... If I find something interesting, I want to be able to create another receiver with a single click and carry on exploring while still monitoring the signal I've just discovered... | ||
| N2LXM | 2022-02-15 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| My go to band cruiser is a Hallicrafters S-76, soon to be paired with a R-46B speaker. Even through it does not have a product detector, it will do a good job on SSB. The audio filters are good and you just got to love that large S-Meter. | ||
| K6CRC | 2022-02-15 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| My intro to HF was fixing an old HQ129x and listening to the world back when I was a teen. Got back into radio hobby a few years ago. I restored another old HQ. To my dismay, I realized that there is NOTHING worth listening to on shortwave. And, it was near useless as a ham rig. So, the rig sat in the garage, tuned to Sports talk on AM... | ||
| KC6RWI | 2022-02-14 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I am surprised by the amount of portable sw radios still being sold. Before I said the wrong thing, I did check CC crane's website and they have even backed away from sw portables, but they still have a few models. I guess its the idea of a survival radio, solar powered, and water proof, just the thing to put on your shelf and never use, looks good though. | ||
| K7LZR | 2022-02-10 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| I sometimes use an old KnightKit R-100A that I've had for many years and I do prefer it for quick band cruising. And my bedside radio is a Hallicrafters S-38. My particular S-38 has been refurbed and works surprisingly well on AM & SSB. I somewhat agree about nothing to listen to but even these days I still manage to find things to listen to. There are still a few SW broadcasters with good content such as WTWW on 5085 with music, Voice of Korea in the mornings on 9435 with music, and sometimes WRMI & WYFR have a bit of good programming. Utility comms are fun to eavesdrop on as well. I regularly listen to ARINC aviation traffic from SFO on 5547, 5574, 8843, and 11282 khz, all USB. I was there too in the 60s,70s, 80s, and 90s when SW was HOT!. But you can still find some neat things to listen to.... | ||
| KT4WO | 2022-02-10 | |
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| Re: Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| "Why even bother...?!" Very true!! A few years back I have a small AM/FM/WB/SW receiver I take hiking on the AT. I tuned into the SW band and unless you want to goto church or send money, they ain't crap on!! I think even the BBC and VOA are gone?? Why bother?! Reply to a comment by : VE3CUI on 2022-02-10 Why even bother...?! About the ONLY things you ever hear now on the short-wave bands are either your proverbial "...hell fire & brimstone" holy-rollers, or ceaseless diatribes from political nut bars of either persuasion...& THAT'S IT. There is simply no longer any "adventure" in tuning the high-frequency radio spectrum anymore --- NONE whatsoever. I swear, if the short-wave landscape was this bleak back in '69 when I convinced my parents to buy me a 3rd-hand Hallicrafters S-77A general coverage AC/DC receiver for $40.00, I would have had absolutely no interest whatsoever in pursuing my ham ticket... NONE whatsoever. ex-"Popular Electronics" SWL VE3PE2RT | ||
| VE3CUI | 2022-02-10 | |
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| Analog Receivers for Band Cruising | ||
| Why even bother...?! About the ONLY things you ever hear now on the short-wave bands are either your proverbial "...hell fire & brimstone" holy-rollers, or ceaseless diatribes from political nut bars of either persuasion...& THAT'S IT. There is simply no longer any "adventure" in tuning the high-frequency radio spectrum anymore --- NONE whatsoever. I swear, if the short-wave landscape was this bleak back in '69 when I convinced my parents to buy me a 3rd-hand Hallicrafters S-77A general coverage AC/DC receiver for $40.00, I would have had absolutely no interest whatsoever in pursuing my ham ticket... NONE whatsoever. ex-"Popular Electronics" SWL VE3PE2RT | ||