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If We Could Turn Back Time

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by NA7US, Jul 20, 2002.

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  1. NA7US

    NA7US XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I enjoyed the thread on the worst rigs we have owned, now lets look at the best rigs and why. Maybe it will give the manufacturers some ideas for the next generation. As for myself, I love the more simple rigs (please no puns on my simple-mindness as I get enough of them from my son, KD7MJO). I enjoy DSP and computer control but personally I believe that alot of the older tube type radios like the KWM2-A and the hybrids like the Kenwood TS 820 were better. I also believe that the newer rigs need less bells and whistles as it seems that the more we get the harder they are to use and the more problems that can arise.   However, Tylers (KD7MJO) favorite is the FT 817.  I love QRP but it has more menus then I want to deal with.

    Let's have some fun with this and maybe we will end up designing the perfect rig......ha....not a chance!
     
  2. K9DI

    K9DI Ham Member QRZ Page

    Hi Gang,
    Wayne K9DI es Leader Dog Sequoia here. My GOD!! The author hit the nail on the head about all those dang bells and whistles. Being visually impaired I get rather irked with the rig makers for all those blasted bells es whistles (read menus) that are not easily accessible to visually impaired or blind (No, I don't believe in being PC either). Alot of the blind hams that I know have gone to using older rigs because of the sheer simpliciy of not having to use menus.
    My favourite rig? The Elecraft K2 (until my TS520 gets here then it'll be a tie), Elecraft has done a good job of putting most of the functions you need on the front panel, and although it does have some menus the K2's menus are pretty much set and forget!! Another plus is that the K2 with all the mods (except for the 100w amp) is a station in a box, all you have to do is hook up an antenna, a key/paddle/mic and you're good to go with up to 15w of power, and the K2's got one of, if not THE, hottest receivers on the planet
    I agree with the author, maybe the rig makers need to go back to using the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method of designing a rig?
     
  3. W8QF

    W8QF Guest

    My personal favorite is my TS900.Great reciver for a hi-bred.It would be realy neat to see a similar rig only with a solid state PA and voice synthiser.DSP would be great as an option.The valve PA's are hard to beat when it come's to audio,but to keep it simple we could go solid state.I realy like my TS-570 alot,but for those with impairments may feel a bit challenged by all the menu items.God bless America and God bless Kenwood.Dave AE8U
     
  4. Guest

    Guest Guest

    My favorite rigs were the Atlas Radios The 210 and 215 being right on top, I worked for the company but they were basic radios that were easy to use not alot of stuff that noone ever uses.. I had to sell all my Atlas Radios but am now replacing I just got a 210X and i am happy to say it works just like new.. [​IMG]
     
  5. ZL3JT

    ZL3JT Ham Member QRZ Page

    de Jungle Telegraph
    I bought a TS850SAT in 1994. I thought that, with Kenwood's DSP100, it was just the best for HF! Kenwood
    made an error...they introduced the TS870 just a bit too
    soon after the TS850.
    I am a DXer and now since having my TS870 I can hear
    DX that others using TS850's can't!
    All things considered Kenwood's TS870 is just the best
    receiver, and when I transmit in SSB, the compliments
    are endless about my 'audio' using my MC90 microphone.
    If you're after the best rig, at a reasonable price then this has to be it.
    If you work CW you will be amazed with the 50Hz, yes!
    50Hz DSP filter...pick one call out of a pile up!
    The proof is in my log....I have done, in just 10 years,
    what others still aspire to in a life time in the hobby!
    I did all the 'easy ones' before 1996, then I got the
    TS870....and I'm a bit deaf. Ask my XYL....
    73s ZL3JT [​IMG]
     
  6. K3HVG

    K3HVG Ham Member QRZ Page

    [​IMG] Best rig?  I think that would depend on the time and situation.  As a novice, the SX-99 I got beat the heck out of my original S-40B and a couple of surplus jobs.  So, SX-99 was the best Novice rig I had.  Time and technology win out in many cases, though, I'm sure.  Having said all that, so far the best rig(s) I have, and God knows, and my friends will attest that I've had a bunch of them over the years, is my 75S-3C/32S-3A station.  They have operated over the years from some pretty bad places and still come through without a glitch.  I must say, though, that my FT-1000D will probably prove to be the best rig, overall.  Unlike the Collins, the Yaesu with its dual receive and no-tune features, etc., make it the best for 99.9% of any operating scenario I'll probably ever see.  What the FT-1000D won't do I certainly don't need.  I think there's a point of diminishing returns on technology infusion (read: bells and whistles) and many of the new rigs must rely on gizmos and glitter to overcome mediocre basic performance.
     
  7. K3UD

    K3UD Guest

    have had had a lot of equipment that I would like to have back.I don't know if that makes them the "best" or not but here goes.....

    AM Transmitters
    B&W 5100B: large transmitter with 100 watts out. Good audio without any mods and very easy to work on when needed. I had this in the early 70s and used it for 75 meter AM and SSB on the other bands with the B&W SSB adaptor.

    DX-100B: with the so called "super modulation" mod which was used on 160 meters.

    EF Johnson Ranger II: Used as a 6 meter AM transmitter and as a very nice CW transmitter on HF

    Ameco TX-62:  Screen Grid modulation that sounded like plate modulation at a very low price. A real workhorse VHF transmitter.

    Receiver
    National NC-303: This was part of the classic late 50s station I used, along with the 5100B in the early 70s. Great receive audio, smooth tuning and an almost magical immunity to overload. Also a very nice CW receiver.

    Twins
    The Drake B and C lines and the Kenwood 599 twins. I never owned a Collins line but I can not imagine that basic performance was a whole lot better than these.

    Transceivers
    #1 Alinco DX-70T: Very inexpensive, small, not complicated, nice receiver, no extras to buy, rock solid in any mobile or portable situation.

    #2 Kenwood TS-520 / TS 520s: Great noise blankers, very nice received audio, nice transmit audio, still reliable after 25 years, easy to work on when needed. Possibly THE workhorse rig of all time.

    #3 Icom 735: Like the DX-70 it is small, not complicated, a good mobile or portable unit and reliable.

    VHF Equipment:
    Clegg Venus 6 meter transceiver
    Clegg custom VHF converters,
    Clegg Interceptor B receiver and Zeus Transmitter
    All classic stuff from the 60s that worked very well.

    Icom IC-230: Early Two meter synthesized FM transceiver.The first 2 meter FM unit I had that could really cope well in strong signal areas.

    Accessories
    EF Johnson 300 watt Matchbox tuner: I was able to match anything fed with ladder line including the rain gutters on the apartment house I lived in back in the early 70s. Built like a tank.

    Drake MN4C tuner: This is what I kept when I sold off the Drake lines I got this at a hamfest for $25 which was the best $25 I have spent in ham radio.

    Both of these tuners make some of the low power tuners on the market today look like toys.

    Astron 35M power supply. What can be said about these that has not already bee said.

    Some of this stuff I still own, but would like to have back everything on this list that I sold sold over the years
     
  8. N4NRW

    N4NRW Ham Member QRZ Page

    [​IMG]  At the top of my list is the Kenwood TS-530SP.  Kenwood audio in these rigs (530/830) has always set a std. to be followed.  And when you want a signal processor that works - just try to beat the ones in the 530 or 830.  These hybrid rigs are tough, simple, well designed and still hold their own today.  Sometimes more is not better!  A close second is the Yaesu FT-840.  Again simple, compact and affordable.  It has a poor processor (Like most of the Yaesu line) and they forgot to add vox!  Overall, a great, simple, HF peformer. My 2 cents worth.
     
  9. Guest

    Guest Guest

    My best rig? As a casual operator, I really like my Omni VI+. The
    cw break-in is the greatest, and the receiver with all the filters
    lets me hear all there is to hear. There are some feafures that I
    do not use.

    Ten-Tec's service is unbeatable. A call to service will get you a
    KNOWLEDGABLE tech who will guide you through the repair. AND
    there is room enough inside to work on the components. AND it's
    made in USA. AND it does not look like its' competitors.

    I also like Drake radios. I have owned the tube radios which were
    fine equipment, but the TR-7 is hard to beat. I run one in the van
    and one sits next to my VI+. TR-7 barks a little louder, but the
    VI+ will dig out the weak ones from the qrm and qrn better.

    These are just my prejudiced thoughts.

    73, Ariel M. Elam, K4AAL
     
  10. W4THM

    W4THM Ham Member QRZ Page

    my favorite vhf rig is the rat shack htx202 ht. ok everybody cringe now...

    the htx202 front end is better than many vhf mobiles. its a rugged radio, acessories are dime a dozen, batteries are cheap, the alkaline pack actually gives you a decent amount of power (not 300mw like some new ht's), and they are cheap on the used market.

    it was my sole radio for over a year. it would go from the car to my back pocket to the car to the house and so forth day in, day out.

    robert
    ke4mcl
     
  11. N5OZQ

    N5OZQ Banned QRZ Page

    Well, as the dust settles, I can pretty well live with these two (as I am):
    TS-530S - It's all there for my purposes. Clear, simple, no menues to dig thru. Quality is very adequate and the WARC bands are covered (only drawback, basically, to the 520 series.)
    Atlas 210x - I recently acquired one, unhacked and very clean for a 30 year old rig. Next to unusable for CW, but it is my portable, and that's pretty much all phone. Considering the simplicity the audio is awsome with the proper tweaking.

    I say this and will add that I work in a state of the (practical) art CAD and control prgramming environment. To say the least I am not against the PC and DSP based technologies, just that they simply have little use for me as a ham.

    73's,
    Tom,  N5OZQ
     
  12. N7BJB

    N7BJB Ham Member QRZ Page

    I would have to say that for the time and the price you would go a long way to beat Heathkit. My first rig was a Benton Harbor lunchbox. For you youngsters, that was a crystal controlled am 2 meter transmitter with a tunable receiver - superhet if I remember correctly (we didn't have fm in those days). They also made one on 6 meters.On low band, you will still go a long way to beat an HW-101. The paperwork that came with them was really top notch - good instructions on building the kit, and good troubleshooting section. Too bad they went out of business, but in their later days they got too pricy and didn't really keep up with technology. Of course, it's not easy to keep up with today's tech in a true kit - not a "plug in the boards and use", but a kit that you build up from the bare chasssis. Yes, I'm also an antique who has been in ham since the 50's. Love a lot of the current tech, but I still say you can''t beat Heath quality.
     
  13. N5XM

    N5XM Ham Member QRZ Page

    There are a lot of great rigs out there, and anytime this kind of discussion comes up, the 520 Kenwood is always mentioned early and often.  It was my first HF radio, and I owe many of my first and best memories to this great warhorse.  Ah, the forgiving 6146's.  You actually felt like you were really learning how to be a real Ham as you learned to tune it up.  It has been replaced by several newer radios, and I still have it ( anyone interested in a nice deal holler at me as I still have it sitting in the corner, I'll make you a nice deal on it and the remote VFO ) .

    I loved Kenwoods, and then I met Ten Tec. Talk about a marraige made in Heaven!  My first Ten Tec was an Omni "D", and I fell in love the very first time I used it.  Super quiet reciever, fabulous QSK, ease of operation, and living in Arkansas, any repair ( not needed yet ) is right next door.  They work great on phone, too, even though they are thought of as CW rigs only.  Not so.  I have four of them in the shack now, and would love to have four more of them, but the beauty is that if I had to go back to that first Omni "D", I would be very happy.

    There are a lot of GREAT radios out there.  It is a great time to be a Ham.
     
  14. N7BJB

    N7BJB Ham Member QRZ Page

    Oops! I did goof. I received an e-mail correcting me. The lunchboxes used a superregen receiver. Thanks for the correction, Frank. Told you all I was a worn out old antique. Suffer from CRS, you know. I still think, though, that for the time and price they were about the best.
     
  15. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I loved my Eico 720/730 transmitter & plate modulator. With a $3 crystal microphone I got great audio reports (this was in the AM days as SSB was just getting really started).

    I also was quite fond of my Heath SB-102. Great rig after I replaced an undersized resistor in the power supply circuitry. I still miss it.

    The SB-102 was sold to finance an Icom 740. I may never buy another rig. I don't need to.
     
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