Skip to main content

July 1, 2024. My best ever Rig (Radio) I ever owned.

Yesterday while doing my shift at the Board and Care I thought about that subject. If you are new to the hobby likely the answer is a radio currently being sold through one of the popular suppliers (DX Engineering, Gigaparts, Amazon). 

If you been at this hobby for some time, the answer is often something you no longer own. It is with lament that you hear: "I really loved that FT-101B" and I regret ever selling it.  Or perhaps your shack had one of these.


A Hygain 3750.


Atlas 350XL


Hallicrafters FPM 200


Astro 102BX

Likely the above radios are not well known to the average 1/2 the total US Ham population (those who can work HF). The offerings were aimed at a niche market but at the time touted as having the latest technology, but often priced like a King's ransom. Frequently the production runs were small in numbers. The Collins KWM-1 line only produced 1250 units. 

What was so good about these specific radios? Yes, they did have sizzle with the displays or that if you owned one you would be considered in today's terms -- an influencer.  In reality it was all in the marketing. They also had some quirks that were dismissed as "nothing". 

I am no different than most hams although I do practice TYGNYB. I own too many radios and I too lament that I should have not parted ways with a specific radio or rig. 

During recent months I have cycled through some of those radios and have come to a stark realization that each new generation of radio or rig perhaps solves an old problem while likely adding new issues.

I have no patience for drifting radios and therefore do not build analog VFO's. Yet some of my homebrew SDR rigs are good enough to detect when my neighbor flushes his toilet. Still working on that problem...

It is also a matter of never being satisfied with what we have and are always chasing the bright new shiny penny. This is where you should never be the 1st to buy a new radio offering. 

I sold some radios to buy a Ten Tec Pegasus (computer-controlled radio). It went back to TT two times in the first six months, and it was Clunky to operate but I was one of the first to own one. I traded it back to TT for an Omni VI Option 3. Still own that jewel. 

Perhaps some or one of the best radios often are simple in design and easy to operate with one hand. They may lack in all of the frills such as the RIT offset control in an SBE-34 that actually caused you to never be in sync with transmit and receive but its predecessor the SBE-33 had no RIT but always was in sync. 

Just because a radio could spew out 200 plus watts (Swan 500) does not necessarily mean the sideband suppression was that good. Foiled again by touted power output and not signal quality.

Some radios are impressive in the sheer numbers sold and still in use. The Yaesu FT-101 may have topped 250K units sold and lest we forget the ICOM IC7300 has surpassed 100K sold. The KWM-1 with 1250 units seems like a fly speck.

So what was your favorite radio or rig? Drop me an email and let me know.

73's
Pete N6QW

Popular posts from this blog

January 26, 2024. A simple CW Transceiver/Transmitter

Cruise through the lower part of the ham bands bands and what do you hear? Well, FT-8 and CW. Often you will not hear any SSB stations yet go to the lower part of the bands, and it is a cacophony (I love that word) of bad sounding signals and some high-speed keying. Fast is not so much of the issue as is bad, run together and jerky keying. But none the less our hobby started there.    So, you could crank down your ICOM 7300 and watch the waterfall on CW or you could homebrew a radio. Actually, to do CW right you need more thought up front than you do with a SSB transceiver. Often, I will state that a CW Transceiver is much more difficult to build than a simple SSB rig. I published two articles in QRP Quarterly on CW transceivers and all I got was a yawn so maybe history will repeat itself.  Yawn!   30M CW Transceiver with RIT!   Of interest is that the LO is a Varactor tuned LC oscillator using a NE602. Look closely at the RIT circuit which is only activated on ...
Read more

August 30, 2024. A PNP 20M SSB Transceiver

Shown below is the Block Diagram for the 20M PNP SSB Transceiver steered in the  Transmit Mode . The components shown in the dotted block are relay steered so that the block module is single pass and amplifies in a single direction. The Block diagram show steered in Transmit.  Essentially the steering process works so that the IF Module input follows the Balanced Modulator on Transmit and then the input side follows the Receive Mixer on Receive. All done with some relays and a bit of RG174U coax. For those who count things in detail, this block diagram is not unlike what was used for the PSSST Transceiver which can be found on my website . Yes, a warmed over P3ST only using PNP devices. TYGNYBNT. 73's Pete N6QW
Read more

March 31, 2024. Happy Easter to those who celebrate this day.

What a great day to Binge on Chocolate and experience the pain of that filling that has been leaking.  I would be in that category with the leaking filling(s) had I not just spent an amount equivalent to one of the fancy new uptown appliance box transceivers on two filling repairs. Well at least I can binge on the Chocolate bunnies without fear of pain. Regrettably everything appears to have jumped in price including the price of parts. Well not so much the parts as the shipping costs.  That notably is seen in the eBay treasures. I spotted a nice heathkit DX-20 for about $50 and the shipping was $65. Likely it is a twofer with part being a way to in effect charge a higher price by inflating the shipping and in part by increased shipping costs. Shipping with insurance across the US was about $150 for this jewel and that was three years ago. 6AM on the Left Coast ~ 20M Easter Sunday! My only hope is the cost of Chocolate Bunnies remains steady although a pound of See's Candies f...
Read more