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Reviews For: Drake SW1

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Drake SW1
Reviews: 5MSRP: 299
Description:
Shortwave Broadcast Receiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0053
KB8GRO Rating: 2012-02-06
Good Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this radio new in 1997 from Universal Radio, I have it hooked up to a g5rv antenna through a antenna tuner ( MFJ-941D ). The radio works great, of coarse it does not have ssb but I have other radios for that, I fine I go to this receiver for general listening of shortwave broadcast, good sound from the built in speaker, nice large led display. Has 32 memory slots for your favorite stations. 3 ways of tuning: direct key entering, up down buttons for scanning frequencies, and vfo tuning. has a so 239 and two screws on the back for antenna hookup. And has a headphone jack on the left side of the radio for private listening. I like the looks of this radio a lot, it shares the same cabinet of the SW2, SW8, and The Drake TR 270. If you want a nice entry level tabletop shortwave radio with nice sound and looks great than this is the radio you may want to consider...

73's
Dan
N4CJT Rating: 2003-06-05
OK for casual broadcast listening Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own two Drake receivers, a 1964 Drake 2B and a 1997 Drake SW-1. The sensitivity of the SW-1 is acceptable but not comparable to the 2B. The skirt selectivity of the SW-1 is very poor, to the point that it is actually difficult to determine what frequency a strong broadcast station is actually on since the station is clearly audible on adjacent 5 or even 10 kHz channels off of the carrier. I have also had problems with the keys on the key pad not making contact. I also miss having a signal strength meter.
JAMES_BENEDICT_EX_N8FVJ Rating: 2002-11-28
Kind of a Dog Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
PLL is so noisy it is unreal. The PLL lockup time is sloooooooow, whew! My Luke manufactured handheld for $29 new performed better. Sorry guys.
KG6CDR Rating: 2001-11-07
Good, Basic Radio... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This model is fine for me because of the low purchase cost. It was one of the models that Drake was discontinuing, so the price was right. It is the only Shortwave radio I use in my shack. It is very easy to use and picks up signals from all over the world. The speaker is VERY clear. That's all I care about. I do wish it had SSB, but you get what you pay for, and I have a Ham radio for that. I have a 75ft. long 40 ft. high antenna that seems to pick up stations all over the world from California, so I'm happy.
ND4MR Rating: 2001-03-05
for what it does, good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I didn't buy this general coverage receiver to use as a main radio in my ham shack. My SW1 is installed as a bedside radio where it's used for late night listening when/if I can't sleep. Foremost, note that this radio is AM only -- it won't copy SSB or CW and it only tunes in full 1 KHz increments. Also, the receiver itself is rather "broad" in its bandpass, and adjacent channel broadcasters, if they have strong signals, will be audible. Nonetheless, fidelity and sensitivity are both good, and the radio is super easy to use and operate. This is not a radio for a serious shortwave listener, but it is a good desktop radio for those who simply want to listen to foreign broadcasters and hear the news & views from afar.