| SWL377 |
Rating:      |
2009-02-02 | |
| Fantastic non DSP rcvr |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I echo all the accolades for this fine old school design (non DSP) receiver. My only complaint is that it runs hot. I have had no failures so maybe the heat doesn't matter unless you are considering power efficiency.
One issue rarely mentioned is how RED HOT this is on VHF with the converter installed. It smokes dedicated VHF rcvrs of all kinds, beats em hands down on sensitivity and low noise. The only thing that can do as well on marine VHF is an old Motorola MODAR xtal controlled radio. The 5000 (with VHF converter) will pull in a very weak VHF signal and give you intelligible copy when many other rcvrs will not.
The HF scanning function works well. The rcvr is very stable, holds near zero beat on WWV for hours on end. Some report keypad problems as the rcvr gets older, but I have had none.
There is a reason that the 5000 still brings top dollar used in the era where you can get a black box DSP rcvr for less that has better specs. In a real world weak signal shootout, I'd place my bets on the 5000 vs the low end DSP rcvrs such as the Ten Tec RX 320 etc.
Kenwood's engineers hit a home run with this design and it will surely remain a classic. |
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| BARRYED |
Rating:      |
2008-12-28 | |
| Best receiver I have ever used |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Bought this radio about ten years ago and since that time I have used and owned a dozen radios and the Kenwood is still the best receiver I have ever used and I have had no problems with it. It has a very low noise floor and the reception is excellent to outstanding on every band and in every mode. The audio is excellent and sounds best with the radios internal speaker even though I have and used the Kenwwood external speaker for this radio. If you want a receiver that will allow you to hear hard to hear and very distant signals, this is the radio to buy, it has benchmark receiver written all over it! |
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| 26TM119 |
Rating:      |
2008-12-26 | |
| NEVER SELLING |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| i have had my r-5000 for 13 years now,it is used daily,sometimes for hours on end and it has NEVER let me down EVER,yes it gets warm but thats all i can complain about,i would like the vc-20 vhf add-on but i stand more chance of becoming pope than finding one.get one,use it,keep it. |
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| M1SPY |
Rating:     |
2008-06-20 | |
| Usable |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Two drawbacks- no tuner dimple and no easily available qui9ck tuning mode. I now own 1 2 and 5K models. This is no better than the 2K except for the filters. No more sensitive than the other two. I cant see what all the fuss was about! Really should be 3.5 |
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| KA2UUP |
Rating:      |
2008-04-28 | |
| Excellent receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I got mine with operating manual and original box from a SWL who is now SK about 9 years ago with some of the optional filters installed. He cautioned me that the rotating know on the notch filter controller was non-operational. Doing a search and joining the Yahoo R5000 user's group, it found out that i could get a replacement nob through Pacific Coast Parts. The replacement took ten minutes to do. This is a great receiver which I normally use to pull distant AM stations at night (NYC) from Massachusetts and also listen to shortwave broadcasts from Radio Havana, RNE, VOA, etc. Would not trade it for anything. |
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| PE1IOC |
Rating:      |
2008-04-27 | |
| Stiil going strong ! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought mine from the son of a silent key some years ago. Since then this nice rx gave me many, many hours of pleasent listening. The sound of the internal speaker is amazing good and clear audio. Some improvement was made by connecting it to my old Yeasu 901 station speaker. One day the display started to give dots into the readout on higher bands with no receiving. Lower freq's o.k. , but after some time dots also appear here and no receiving at all. I found out in the internet that the VCO number 2 was not locking. I replaced the internal battery and ' voila ' , problem solved ! This rx will not leave my shack and hope to find the VHF converter once. My 5000 was running hot by using the internal power supply after some hours, but solved the problem by using a small 12 Volt vent of an old 286 CPU from the junk box..At yahoo groups you will find more 5000 enthousiasts ! 73's
Tjerk
PE 1 IOC
The Netherlands
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|
| WDX7DBG |
Rating:      |
2008-01-10 | |
| A supremely underrated DX machine |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I picked up one of these radios stock on Ebay a while back, with the VC-20 VHF converter included. I spent some extra to customize it out and added the following:
1. IC-10 interface chips for computer control; resellers on Ebay carry the equivalent chips, or you can order them yourself for a lot cheaper from Mouser or another electronics supply house (they're an 8251A and a 4040; Google is helpful here). Also an IF232 interface cable from G4ZLP (available elsewhere as well)
2. A replacement 6kHz AM filter from INRAD - if you only make one upgrade to the radio, DO THIS! The stock filter is crappy at best, and getting a better one will get rid of the constant whistling heterodynes that otherwise plague AM reception. My interests lie in shortwave broadcast DXing, so I also added a 4kHz AM, and 2.8 and 1.8 kHz SSB filters as well. (The R-5000 has 4 filter slots.)
3. A finger dimple (from fingerdimple.com) to the main tuning knob to make it much easier to tune.
As a result I have a sensitive, selective, excellent DX machine that can handle anything from a weak signal buried near a stronger one to hours of program listening, and I can run the whole thing from my computer via Ham Radio Deluxe and Shortwave Log. And it still costs less than the vaunted Drake R8A/B, and IMHO performs even better. For some reason the R5000 never gets the attention that other receivers do like the Drakes and the JRCs and the Icom R75, but it's as good or better a performer than all of them.
The lone drawback to the R-5000 is keybounce, which can be really annoying when present, but using computer control is a workaround as well. Mine has it on a couple of keys and there's apparently an involved process to take off the keypad and clean the contacts, but it hasn't bothered me enough to actually try it.
Between that and the low-grade stock 6 kHz filter, if I could I would give R5000 about a 4.8 out of 5. But if you get one without keybounce and a good filter (either the Kenwood YK88-A1 or the equally good equivalent from INRAD), it's a solid 5-star performer. |
|
| KA2SHU |
Rating:     |
2007-09-27 | |
| As Good As They Say But......... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned two of these receivers and my observations are based upon BOTH of them. All the reviews listed here are for the most part pretty accurate and I agree, but here are some points that have not been mentioned. You want to note these before you pick one up, especially if you want to use this receiver as MW DX chaser.
This is the only communications receiver that I own that will NOT benefit directly from an earth ground. Putting a good ground wire on this receiver's ground connection on the rear apron has no affect! This is because of the unusual arrangement of the radio's power supply. There is no grounding on the radio's plug either. Trying to listen to signals at 600KHz. or lower are impared by RF noise that could be easily reduced on other sets.
If your R-5000 has the VHF Converter (VC-20) installed, there are further implications to the MW reception as well. With a VHF antenna connected to the converter, a noticeable white noise is audible in the MW range from 1280KHz. to 1310KHz. Remove the antenna from the VC-20 and the noise disappears!
Another interesting note about this receiver is the radio's standby power consumption. It's just under 10 watts (clock on or off) with the power off. It consumes 30 watts while on. So you are essentially running a 10 watt clock while the radio does nothing but generate some heat. Speaking of heat, this radio would make a great bed warmer. After a run of a few hours, the R-5000 gets hot. Even the tuning knob gets warm to the touch!
If buying a used unit, make sure to get a good clear photo of the radio's display segments. Those with many hours of use tend to lose their lumination intensity making for a spotty clock or frequency display.
Now you have the rest of the story.
W4SHU |
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| W5DXE |
Rating:      |
2006-09-22 | |
| Best There Is |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have owned several general coverage and HF/VHF receivers: Grundig, Hallicrafters, ICOM, Yaesu, Drake and Realistic. I have sold all of those but still have the R-5000. With the VC-20 optional VHF module you have everything you need in a great receiver. I added the INRAD 6k AM filter and boy does this radio sing on AM. Only radio I found that came close to this in selectivity and sensitivity is the R-9000L ICOM but not everyone has 2500+ to pay for a high end receiver. IF you want a great receiver for a moderate price this is the only way to fly. |
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| N4DYR |
Rating:      |
2006-08-01 | |
| I'll never sell it! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought mine in 1990, when I was DX'ing commercial maritime CW stations (most are now gone). It's sensitive, the frequency accuracy is excellent, and it has enough filter and IF shift options to bring the signals out of the noise. Mine has the 500Hz CW filter.
I have to give it a 5/5, even though there are a couple of small problems. I'd actually rate it about 4.8 if I could. The worst thing is the key bounce, which the R-5000 shares with its sibling, the TS-440. Apparently this is due to corrosion on the contacts. Mine sat on the shelf until recently and it was really bad when I first put it back in service. It's getting better now, as the keys get more use.
The other thing, which has bothered me since the day I got the R-5000, is the stupid tuning knob, which doesn't have a spinner or finger-hole. I finally found a knob from an old Icom transceiver that has a finger-hole, and that's what I'm using now.
A couple of years after I bought the R-5000 the Drake R-8 came on the market, and I bought one of those. I still have both radios, and I'd be hard-pressed to say which one I like the best. They're both great radios.
If you want a receiver that has been well-proven in both amateur and commercial service, you could go through a lot of choices before you'd find a better radio than the R-5000, in spite of a couple of minor problems. |
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