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Reviews For: Ten-Tec RX-321 (Globe Wireless)

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Ten-Tec RX-321 (Globe Wireless)
Reviews: 8MSRP:
Description:
Computer controlled HF receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0085
JANDCOCK Rating: 2007-11-10
Great value! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This variant of the RX-320 is the best SW radio I have ever owned, but I wish there was more information available on it.

I live within a few hundred yards of a 50KW clear-channel station that horribly overloaded my RX-320, but the RX-321 is not affected by it at all.

The +/- 10hz frequency readout is literally 10X better than the RX-320 over all the bands.

There is a web page dedicated to the RX-321 at: http://blacktailbooks.com/rx321.html
N1LF Rating: 2006-04-22
Great value! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this receiver primarily for MW DXing, and find that the RX-321 compares very favorably to my Drake R8B, and my Icom 746Pro for this purpose.

Connections are simple. 50 Ohm Antenna, Ground, 12 Volt DC, serial cable for the PC, and a shielded audio cable that runs to your soundcard.

Lots of software, (freeware and otherwise) available...virtually anything that works with the RX-320 works fine with the RX-321.

Best features? Lots of bandwidth options, Passband tuning...etc. I also often feed the 8khz wide audio signal to the DReaM software, which requires a 14khz IF signal, but works fine using the 8khz wide audio signal as an IF...this then allows you to customize any filter shape and see the spectrum. Amazing combination for MW DXing, at a very affordable price.

If you're serious about MW DXing and on a budget, you'll find it hard to beat the RX-321. Also use it to monitor secondary frequencies during Hurricane Season, and it works great as a SW-HF receiver too.

SWL377 Rating: 2005-08-02
Great rcvr but a Ten Tec orphan Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I own both a Ten Tec 320 and, finally succumbing to the chat group pressure, a 321. The 321 has considerably better front end and freq stability specs than the 320, but I have yet to see any real world difference in performance. Maybe in a strong signal environment the 321 would outshine the 320, but at my location they seem to be about the same performance wise. Remember if you buy a 321 you are on your own, Ten Tec will NOT service them or even answer any questions about them. The otherwise nice folks at Ten Tec snarl and snap if you even ask about support for non standard radios like the SP 325 they made for the US Navy (yes, I have one of these too).

Globe Wireless apparently had the 321 custom engineered by Ten Tec as the heart of a GMDSS rcvr system that as far as I can tell never made it to market. My guess is that there were less than 100 of these made.

Do I enjoy using my 321? Well, actually not so much. I just don't like the computer user interface. I like knobs and switches. There are some aftermkt knob and switch kits for these rcvrs, but they still don't give you the feel of a full panel of knobs like you'd find on an old Hammarlund or Hallicrafters.

Should you buy a 320 or a 321? If you are worried about service, get a 320 definitely. If you must have the better specs in a 320-like radio and are willing to risk breakdowns without any service availability, then get a 321. Both are fine rcvrs and truly AMAZING values when you examine price vs performance. Nothing else comes close, not even the Sony 2010 which for years was the value leader.

Either the 320 or 321 will outperform non DSP rcvrs costing perhaps ten times their price. Would a 321 stand up against the holy Collins R 390 A? Don't know. Synthesizer noise in the 321 could be an issue, but the DSP magic might gain back the advantage lost by the synth. Would be an interesting SW rcvr shootout indeed.
VA3TY Rating: 2005-07-16
Excellent commercial upgrade to the TenTec RX-320 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Globe Wireless had the specifications of the RX-320, with which I already owned and am quite pleased, upgraded for maritime use.

-Frequency stability is rock steady. Accuracy is ALWAYS within a hertz or two of WWV/CHU Standards. This is due to the temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO). (Hint, you can use this receiver to align your other equipment in the shack)

-Sensitivity has been improved from the already great RX-320 model from which it was modified. Actually the sensitivity is most likely the same as the RX-320, but because of better front end design, the receiver doesn't suffer from desensing due to nearby strong signals.

-Automatic Pre-Selectors prevent out of band blow-through of very strong locals.

If you see this radio come up on eBay for the same of less price of a new RX-320, buy it!
KC0PPA Rating: 2005-05-01
The software makes it. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I found out that the RX-321 is as good or better than my Drake R-8.
What makes the computer controled RX-321 great is the control software. I have been trying many of the programs out there. I have not decided on the best one yet. Each has it pluses ond minues.
I like the ability to download the station lists from the internet. From this you can quite easily id or find a station. The way you can run down the list one by one is a nice way to see whats on. The band scan function lets you see at a glance what is on that band. It is also easy to make your own list. With the ability to make more than one list it is like having unlimited memories. Just a click of a button and it is added. Many regular radios have this function. But with the list on on the software it is much easier to pull up.
Like I told a fellow radio friend, "It is better then sliced bread"
It got my interest back into the shortwave hobby.
TUBESAREKING Rating: 2005-04-21
Superb Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just bought this for $220 US on eBay. The seller was 1st class all the way. The product is spectacular.

I'm using it with a 1996 era Toshiba laptop [Pentium 1]running Windows 98 and that ancient combo works just fine with this hi-tech black box receiver.

Sensitivity is the equal or better to my Drake R8. Selectivity is much better on the Ten-Tec than the Drake. The RX-321 can handle my two local MW 10KWers even with my 70 foot V antenna, 6 foot ground rod, and SWL1G balun. The poor Drake gets images of these stations everywhere unless I really pad the antenna down.

Audio quality is very good at 8 KHz BW. For DX, there is a wide choice of narrower BWs to choose from.

I am primarily a MW DXer, and was pleased to see that it pulled in 530 KHz from the Turks and Caicos solidly and free of noise. The Drake pulled in the same station but with moderate background noise.

A local beacon prevents reception of Ireland on 252 KHz on the Drake, no matter how much you use BW options, USB/LSB, PBT etc. Simply impossible. With the Ten-Tec RX-321, all you do is choose the 3.1 KHz BW and presto, Ireland 252 coming in clear as a bell.

France 1377 - audible but noisy on the Drake. Noise free on the Ten-Tec. the Ten-Tec is great for TA MW DX.

The Ten-Tec RX-321 is simply the best LW, MW, SW receiver I have ever experienced. Period.

It looks like the last of these may be gone. Perhaps Ten-Tec will introduce this for regular sale. It is a winner. Since it was a custom project, they may have to revise it somewhat for regular sale, but it is a winner. Just add the Ten-Tec logo to the front, and a 12 KHz IF output jack to the back, call it the RX-321D and watch the orders roll in.

Clearly superior to the Drake R8. That is not to knock the Drake, which in my opinion is a very good receiver. It is just that Ten-Tec has made a PC based black box which runs circles around virtually anything else. The Drake R8 family is very high end consumer grade. The Ten-Tec RX-321 is commercial/military grade.

The Ten-Tec has a real case, unlike the thin material on the Drake.

The only thing it lacks is the "feel" of a conventional receiver.

Kudos Ten-Tec!

Prince Edward Island Canada
K8SWL Rating: 2005-03-20
Great Receiver Time Owned: N.A.
Having had an RX-320 for about 6 years, I didn't hesitate to buy an RX-321 for $200. I wasn't worried about factory service as the RX-321 has been running without shutting sdown since new without a failure. The RX-321 has more stability and a much stronger front end compared to the RX-320. An outstanding receiver.
K6YC Rating: 2005-03-12
Excellent Receiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a custom version of the Ten-Tec RX-320 made for Global Wireless. It is functionally very similar to the RX-320 and uses the same control interface software. The receiver is very sensitive and very good in a high RF level environment. I modified mine to bring the 12 Khz IF out for my DRM demodulator. The DSP works great and the frequency is dead on. I picked this receiver up on e-Bay for $200 and it is a great buy. There is no tech support for these from either Ten-Tec or Globe Wireless but it is well made and should last for a long time.