What is the WORST rig you've ever had?

Worst rig?  Let me think....  I had an Eico 753, built from a kit, it seemed to work.. maybe at the time I didn't know what good, or bad, was?  The first lemon I realized I had was the original Swan 350 (Old Drifty). I never could get it to settle down (nor could Swan).  In reality, the worst rig(s) I ever had or had to work on were the Kenwood TS-430 and 440.  What with the problem with having to dig out the bad potting material, bad read-outs, etc.  And those internal "antenna tuners"?  The Joke of the Century!!   About the time Kenwood stopped using threaded screws and went to sheet-metal types, that was a sign that the quality had gone to zero.  I haven't had a K'Wood since.  Cushcraft VHF antenna feedpoint hardware is especially poor!!  Ever tried to tighten one..... sufficiently?   What else....?  Can't think of any more.  Well, back to the ART-13 and BC-348.... hi!!

 

W7EJJ sums up my analysis from actual usage: The TT Jupiter is the worst in opur opinions.

Specifically, I suppose one of the poorest performance radios I ever had, for a short while, thank goodness, was the TT Jupiter.

I bought it new, not bothering to read the QST review first (my mistake).  I found for the $1200 or so dollars I paid, it lacked features I find on my $500 Icom 718.  Things like easy band switching, up/down, preamp option, digital recorder option, no tuner, no 6 -meters, and all for the price of $1200!

Mine (I said mine, not yours if you bought one of these "gems") couldn't hear much above 21 mhz, and without a preamp, it was deaf. I even checked it with several radios, same cabling and antenna.

I ended up sending it back for my refund and used the same money, plus about $200 more and got the Icom PRO.  What a world of difference!  I realize there are those out there that "love" the Jupiter, but frankly, for the money I spent, the immediate return for rework (mis wired boards), will force me to stay away from TT for some time to come.  For those of you that "love" TT, I just can't see buying their products until something improves in the QC department!

 

Wow,
All of the threads certainly took me back to yesteryear! I think that in the early days "caveat emptor" applied to a lot of new rigs. National, Eico, Swan, and Galaxy were horrible in the drift department. I still have an EICO 722 VFO that I used to leave on continously with an additional '47 lamp inside to reduce drift. I became a ham in the 60's and with Drake and Collins costs in the clouds, lots of newbies started out unloading junk. Some of you might remember the Gotham antennas with their super inflated ratings and testimonials. That being said, I have tried a lot of radios. Today, I do not think there are really bad rigs. I think that there are different strokes for different folks. My dad owns a 756 that he loves dearly. For me, the radio does not rate as a good contest rig but the 1000D or 1000MP make the grade while Dad thinks they are too complicated and big. Whatever floats your boat, enjoy. Long live ham radio, especially CW.

Tommy - K6YE    

 

A Genave HT that I got in a hurry to get back on the air after my Wilson HT was stolen. I can't remember the model number of that dog; the radio and the company are long gone.

Lousy audio on both transmit and receive. (They used the speaker as the microphone as well; that might have something to do with it.) Poor battery life. And it weighed a ton. (The case was all-metal, which was supposed to make the thing rugged, but it didn't.) Really no redeeming qualities at all.

 

After owning too many rigs over the years there are three that stand out as the worst.

1. Eico 753
This was built from a kit and was very inexpensive (cheap). The VFO drifted slowly up the band and required constant adjustment. The receiver was not terrible but was tough to tune. The ergonomics were poor. This was a rig built down to a very low price and enabled many hams to get on SSB or put an SSB rig in their car. With all of its faults, I still made many good contacts with it and finally gave it away to a newly licensed General sometime in the mid 60s. He was happy to get it and put it to good use. (one man's trash......)

2. SBE-144
This was a 10 watt 2 meter FM transceiver from the early 70s. It was a small and atractive unit but had terrible strong signal handling capabilities. It was not really useable from the home QTH near Philadelphia and marginal in the car. I traded it for a used Drake ML2 (tube final) which was light years ahead of the SBE and my have been one of the better FM rigs of the early 70s.
(Yes, I know it was not really a Drake)

3. Midland 2 meter HT
Although I do not remember the model number,this was another early 70s disaster. Crystal controlled and the trimmers did not have enough range to zero in the crystals. Receiver also lacked sensitivity to the point that  two tin cans and a length of string would have been better.

I notice that the NCX 3 is taking a beating here. I never had any problems with the one I owned for about a year. It replaced the 753 and I always thought that the NCX 3 made the 753 look like a toy copy. As I recall, it was stable, selective (for its day), had good audio on transmit and receive, was easy to tune and had a quality feel and look to it.

73
George
K3UD

 

Just a comment: Only one (1) Heathkit HF rig mentioned. I wish I'd built one! 73s ... "Gene" AC7UL

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (K3UD @ July 08 2002,07:57)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">After owning too many rigs over the years there are three that stand out as the worst.

1. Eico 753
This was built from a kit and was very inexpensive (cheap). The VFO drifted slowly up the band and required constant adjustment. The receiver was not terrible but was tough to tune. The ergonomics were poor. This was a rig built down to a very low price and enabled many hams to get on SSB or put an SSB rig in their car. With all of its faults, I still made many good contacts with it and finally gave it away to a newly licensed General sometime in the mid 60s. He was happy to get it and put it to good use. (one man's trash......)

2. SBE-144
This was a 10 watt 2 meter FM transceiver from the early 70s. It was a small and atractive unit but had terrible strong signal handling capabilities. It was not really useable from the home QTH near Philadelphia and marginal in the car. I traded it for a used Drake ML2 (tube final) which was light years ahead of the SBE and my have been one of the better FM rigs of the early 70s.
(Yes, I know it was not really a Drake)

3. Midland 2 meter HT
Although I do not remember the model number,this was another early 70s disaster. Crystal controlled and the trimmers did not have enough range to zero in the crystals. Receiver also lacked sensitivity to the point that  two tin cans and a length of string would have been better.

I notice that the NCX 3 is taking a beating here. I never had any problems with the one I owned for about a year. It replaced the 753 and I always thought that the NCX 3 made the 753 look like a toy copy. As I recall, it was stable, selective (for its day), had good audio on transmit and receive, was easy to tune and had a quality feel and look to it.

73
George
K3UD[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
TO K3UD

THE MIDLAND HT YOU REFERRED TO WAS THE 13-520

THEY WERE FUSSY AS TO THEIR CRYSTALS, BUT OTHERWISE A VERY GOOD, SOLID AND AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVE TO MOTOROLA, WHICH WAS ABOUT THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE AT THE TIME.

I HAD ONE AS MY FIRST 2 METER RIG AND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ONE FOR MY COOLECTION !

KCØNBW

 

Well, I must say..I've had excellent luck with Kenwood and Yaesu both.  Never had an ICOM.  Just haven't.
Though I don't particularly care for their looks.
All my Drake stuff works well.

I'm not seeing much Heath gear in the list here....don't know what to think of that...but I have an HW-100, which is not a bad rig, except for the VFO drive system which is indescribably cheesy.  Mechanical stability is not it's strong area.  Pounding brass on a table where the rig is located will result in plenty of FSK.

I have a few Alinco rigs and they've worked well for me (2 DR570s and a DJ-C4).

I've had good luck with most of my rigs....hope the new guys aren't all having bad luck with their radios.  It really can be a fun hobby!

Brady
K0UC

 

Not a "worst" radio, but I had a Galaxy GT-550A, with remote vfo and speaker and power supply. Man, I thought I was in heaven! A real DX rig at last. The previous radio was a Halliscratchers HT-40, cw radio.

I worked many a DX with my Galaxy and dipole. It used I think 6LQ6 tubes (sweep tubes) and they were easy to make soft. Kept me warm in the basement as a teenager. The other interesting radio I had was Harvey Wells TBS-50C, 80-2 meters (yep, 2 meter) transmitter with 807 final. What fun times.

 

Well, I guess my 'worst rig' (other than my now-deceased FT-8100) was a Radio Shack DX-390 shortwave receiver that I bought in the early '90s before I got my ticket. This 'Monument To Chromius' was highly prone to static damage. I had to have a 'static discharge station' (touch the brass bed headboard before you turned the rig on) near the rig so that you wouldn't accidently touch it while 'charged'. If you did, it would fry the receiver. If my xyl's cat (now both ex-xyl es ex-cat) brushed up against the antenna...WHAM!!...fried receiver! Then, the near-electrocuted cat would run thru the house urinating on everything. I sent the DX-390 back to Radio Shack 4 times for repair...and this was the only time I had ever bought an extended warranty...and I thank the gods of prophecy that I did with that one!! Radio Shack fixed it free each time, but said they could do nothing about it being prone to static damage. As to be expected, "Gee, you are the ONLY customer that's had that problem!!!...". Finally, after the warranty expired, I came home from work one nite and forgot to 'discharge' myself. You guessed it!...fried receiver! A man can only take so much!! I took the DX-390 out to the driveway, laid it on its side, and backed-over it several times with my 3/4 ton pickup. Then, I calmly took the scoop shovel and deposited its remains in the trash can. A constructive thing to do? No, but I did feel that I got the last word!!

 

All these postings and no mention of the Signal One CX-7?
Really neat early 70s "high tech" hybrid radio but very shop-prone.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ky7f @ July 08 2002,12:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">...If my xyl's cat (now both ex-xyl es ex-cat) ...[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Wow! Ex-xyl and ex-cat? Don't get between you and your rig!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ky7f @ July 08 2002,12:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">...I took the DX-390 out to the driveway, laid it on its side, and backed-over it several times with my 3/4 ton pickup. Then, I calmly took the scoop shovel and deposited its remains in the trash can....[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

The running over with a truck -- now that's a classic.  I had a friend once who calmly put his Yaesu 747 into its box, walked out back and threw it in the dumpster after a similar episode!  When he didn't show for the sked on 10m, I called him up, and asked him, "hey what happened?" and he just deadpanned, "I trashed the rig"!!  Boy, he wasn't kidding!

73, Bert

 

Congrats Bert/WF7I!!!

This one particular thread is probably one of the biggest of all times BECAUSE of the prolifieration of CRAPPY RIGS!!!

Most of the DUDS were probably reviewed by the ARRL as well, maybe some that did not get especially GLOWING REPORTS but none the less reviewed them and they did not really scrutinize them as much as they should have in QST, obviously for the sake of new potential ADVERTISERS/Equipment Manufacturers which is really sad on THEIR PART, meaning QST/ARRL!!!

We'd like to trust the ARRL but their REPORTING TRACK RECORD leaves alot to be desired!!!


3s,

Jim/nn6ee

 

You ALWAYS get what you pay for. Sometimes I think many hams expect the manufacturers to take a loss when selling their equipment. If you want the best, pay $5000 for the best. Don't bitch when you buy a $110 radio on clearance and you have a little intermod from the 900 watt VHF paging transmitter 100 feet away, or that 150 channels isn't enough.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (K3UD @ July 08 2002,07:57)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">After owning too many rigs over the years there are three that stand out as the worst.

1. Eico 753
This was built from a kit and was very inexpensive (cheap). The VFO drifted slowly up the band and required constant adjustment. The receiver was not terrible but was tough to tune. The ergonomics were poor. This was a rig built down to a very low price and enabled many hams to get on SSB or put an SSB rig in their car. With all of its faults, I still made many good contacts with it and finally gave it away to a newly licensed General sometime in the mid 60s. He was happy to get it and put it to good use. (one man's trash......)

2. SBE-144
This was a 10 watt 2 meter FM transceiver from the early 70s. It was a small and atractive unit but had terrible strong signal handling capabilities. It was not really useable from the home QTH near Philadelphia and marginal in the car. I traded it for a used Drake ML2 (tube final) which was light years ahead of the SBE and my have been one of the better FM rigs of the early 70s.
(Yes, I know it was not really a Drake)

3. Midland 2 meter HT
Although I do not remember the model number,this was another early 70s disaster. Crystal controlled and the trimmers did not have enough range to zero in the crystals. Receiver also lacked sensitivity to the point that  two tin cans and a length of string would have been better.

I notice that the NCX 3 is taking a beating here. I never had any problems with the one I owned for about a year. It replaced the 753 and I always thought that the NCX 3 made the 753 look like a toy copy. As I recall, it was stable, selective (for its day), had good audio on transmit and receive, was easy to tune and had a quality feel and look to it.

73
George
K3UD[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
George I can agree with you on everything,but I do have a problem with your final comparison oh 7 drifty 3 and the NCX3.The NCX3 was a real cobb,however it would seem like a dream compaired to the 7drifty3 hi hi.Dave AE8U