| LU7BSE |
Rating:      |
2022-06-26 | |
| Beautiful vintage transceiver, from the metal front ones! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| In a few words, it is a device that is already 40 years old, has discreet electronics, and has few functions, solid as a rock, has a very good reception and works better than many current devices, I bought mine from a friend, and it did not work, typical relay problems, both the preamp and the tx rx, after a good cleaning and changing some electrolytic capacitors, the equipment works very well, although the TX Audio is good with any microphone, I prefer the TX From the Kenwood ts-130, That being said, it's a fun radio to use, and I'm super happy with it. |
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| ON7WP |
Rating:      |
2022-02-27 | |
| Best 40 yo receiver ever !!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought this one broken for 130 Euros.
Problem was screwed up SSB modulator alignment. Fixed this and did a bit of tweaking. S meter was still perfectly S9 at 50 uV. Far less detuned IF strip than Kenwoods of that generation.
SUPERB quad conversion receiver. Great user interface. The same aged TS130 and FT707 are jokes compared to this fine piece of Japanese early days solid state engineering.
A keeper !! |
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| K1EAR |
Rating:     |
2020-06-06 | |
| Restoration notes... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Bought this in 2014 and used it for three years. Starting jumping around in frequency and FM ing, so I put it on the shelf and bought an IC 7200. Later found web article saying to try cleaning all the pots with contact cleaner (DeOxit works best), especially the main freq adjustment, RIT pot, and XIT pot (R66). This made a huge improvement, and the radio is now usable again; not perfect, since the microphonics of the bandswitch still cause a slight shift, say 5-10 hz, after changing bands, but much more stable.
The stock mic fell apart so I bought a replacement mic from TechnoFix in the UK. Works well, but much hotter than the original, so you have to lower the gain to avoid splatter... |
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| SV1AGK |
Rating:      |
2019-06-23 | |
| noise blanker |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Excellent noise blanker.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by SV1AGK on 2017-07-09
the best noise blanker ever |
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| W0BKR |
Rating:      |
2019-01-18 | |
| Great Radio and EZ to Buy |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Have two and they are great. Enough said. |
|
| WB9VKM |
Rating:     |
2018-02-25 | |
| Under rated |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Sure it has no bells and whistles and needs narrow filters for crowed conditions but is well under rated. Only down point is the issues with the pre amp relay.Beats the 7200 on receive and transmit. |
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| KB1PFL |
Rating:      |
2017-08-18 | |
| Easy to operate mobile |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Got one of these a couple of years ago after my ft-857 got hit.got this from HRO in california used.I have had now for more than 24 mounths and must say The fun factor went up about 100% over the yeasu no menus to worry about.
I'm currently using it mobile with a yeasu screw driver antenna it seems to work great this way! this is a keeper.73' Jim KB1PFL |
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| K4CWQ |
Rating:     |
2017-07-26 | |
| Great buy |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is a great rig for the price, can be bought used for $200-300. Great buy for new hams, as back up or for poor hams, like myself, on limited income and little money for hobby It has WARC bands, noise blanker, processor, easy to use, with no menus. Other shortcomings, mentioned by others, don't bother me, such as no 160 meters, no FM, no general coverage, few memories. Never use those features..
Would have rated 5 but for the following shortcomings, especially when compared with my old Ten Tecs that I usually operate.
1. No QSK cw. Although I rarely do cw, I like QSK, as on Ten Tec. CW on 730 semi-break in, not easy to use.
2. Several controls under top, lift-up hatch, hard to access and too small to easily use. SWR check requires flipping tiny switch under hatch.
3. SWR check too complex. No easy way to generate cw signal to check.I instead use shorted key jack plug, flip mode to cw, key mike, use SWR meter on antenna tuner.
4. Noisy, compared to my Ten Tecs.
5. No aux jacks to provide 12 volts for accessories.
6. Relays bad for sticking. Many hams report sticking preamp relay problems. Mine OK, but the TX/RX relay sometimes sticks, causing receive sensitivity to be low. I either hit the PTT switch several times or slap the case side and it comes back. Understand relay can be cleaned or new one available from RF Parts.
All said, though, it's a nice solid rig, fun to operate, good audio reports, smooth and stable tuning. Would buy again. Good bargain compared with other older, solid state, WARC-compatible radios. |
|
| W4KYR |
Rating:     |
2016-10-23 | |
| Good basic reliable radio perfect for new hams |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Good basic reliable radio perfect for new hams
Cons
No General Receive.
No FM.
No 160 Meter band.
Preamp Relay is a known failure point.
Noise Blanker not all that effective.
Pros
Straight forward design
Easy To Operate
No Complicated Menu's
No need to keep referring to a manual to operate
Cost: You should be able to pick this up for under $300.
Supposedly there is mod to bypass the preamp relay. If this isn't fixed and you press in the preamp switch. It will sound like the radio is deaf. The replacement preamp relay is said to be no longer available. So you'd either have to bypass the relay with a mod or take it out and clean it.
Be aware that since this an older radio, there are no modern conveniences like DSP or Digital Interfaces. If those are important to you, spend a bit more and get a good used IC-718. If all you plan to do is to just operate CW and SSB, you can work the world with this radio.
Overall this is a good solid radio. I owned this since 1993, I think I paid $400. This radio is perfect for first time hams if their budget is $300 or under. However, if you can spend more, get the IC-718 instead.
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|
| W7LPN |
Rating:      |
2016-10-20 | |
| Love it! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My first HF rig I inherited from a friends father. For a Pre-RF Revolution radio it's fantastic. Noise reduction is not bad considering. I'm going to put in a horizontal loop to improve that further. It has been very rugged & tolerated much from me for 10+ years. 200 watts pep is quite punchy & folks usually hear me just fine, even some of those 600 watt stations which are so loud yet they can hear almost no-one...lol. I have no other older radios to do direct comparison so my experience with it has been pleasant yet anecdotal. Sound quality & signal reports are always positive as they relate to the conditions available. I's like an Up-Dwn Mic, but cannot find one. May have to have an aftermarket one wired for me, or by a desk mic.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by W7LPN on 2006-05-29
My only complaint is the internal memory battery is dead and it's going to be a bit tricky to replace it. |
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