Jon Isaacs said:
Hi folks.... Now that we have changed the name of this forum, I would like to see some lively chatter... As a relative newbie, well, there are a few things to discuss, favorite radios, favorite antennas and favorite stations...
So how about starting out with Favorite Radios...
As an astronomer, well, I am a dyed in the wool starhopper, it's not that I have something against all the electronics motors, wires and stuff, it's just that I like the simplicity and the personal relationship with the scope and the night sky...
So when it comes to listening to shortwave, I have found myself to be a "Band Scanner." Give me an old fashioned tuning knob, a few knobs to twist and a few buttons to push and I am happy-happy.
Right now my favorite is the Kenwood R-1000 that I bought from fellow Astromarter Jim (not Bob) Carpenter. It does all the stuff I want it do and not much else and besides it's built solid. It has clean robust audio, the tuning knob is smooth and easy, once I moved the connector switching the filters to the 6khz-2.7khz it has reasonable selectivity and with my fancy antenna (made from speaker wire from the 99 cent stor) it pulls in stations from all over...
I am sure one day I will step up to something with more gizmos and dodads but for this Newbie, it's a pretty good imitation of an analog rig but with the stability of a PLL synthesizer.
How about the rest of you, what's your favorite?
Jon
I have had a Kenwood R-2000 and a Sony ICF-2010 since the mid-nineties. The Kenwood is a nice solid radio with a big tuning knob that is excellent for tuning through the bands. However the Sony ICF-2010 is ,some consider, the best designed portable to ever come out of Japan. It does put many table top rigs to shame. The synchronous detection circuitry has been useful on many ocassions. The memory is capable without being way too large for what exists out there these days. This radio is so popular that it actually has a yahoo group with a considerable number of members. Unfortunately Sony ended production of this highly sought after model in the early 2000s. I could easily sell this radio for more than I paid for it, but instead I will have this radio until "the day I die".
