HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: moof on April 04, 2017, 0053 UTC
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I have a maybe 8-10 year old Sony 7600 and I HATE the ssb tuning wheel. It is so sensitive and you never really nail the ssb tuning. No great complaints other than this other than general ergonomics. What about a Tecsun 880 or 660? Do you guys have recommendations with the ssb tuning on these or any other ones I should consider in a portable? No SDR or big radios, already have one of each.
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Any Tecsun is fine, all use the same SiLABS chip.
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I had a 660 and it was fine for ambc/swbc but it has a spur every few khz or whatever it is, and I had to set the bfo in every band for decent ssb copy. The 880 may be better but it may also suffer from the spur. I don't think they ever fixed the spur in the 660, got rid of mine for that reason as well as the alignment issues with the master oscillator and bfos. I'd like to try the sangean 990 or whatever it's called.
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What do you consider to be "portable"? ::)
I have a Tecsun S-2000 which can be a base radio or portable via battery power.
Has a rather good BFO for SSB and CW reception. Quite a good radio for the price, works very well on utility DXing on HF and goes really well on FM broadcast too.
Have a look via Google and see what you think and what people say about it. A good starting point. 8)
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Echoing Looking-Glass, if a radio of the size of the S-2000 (marketed in North America as the Grundig Satellit 750) is portable to you, that's got great SSB. If you're thinking more of receivers like the Sagean 909x, all I can say is that the Tecsun PL-600 (which isn't that popular of a model these days, unlike the PL-660) has terribly distorted audio in SSB mode, unless you attenuate the signal by retracting the antenna, or if you're using an external, if you tune away from the peak a bit. In other words, I would not recommend that model to you.
But the Satellit 750/S2000 has terrific SSB.
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Sangean 909X or the earlier model, Sangean 909.
I have the DX-398, the Radio Shack version of the 909. My best radio for SSB, hands down.
Switch to USB or LSB, set the tuning knob to "fine" tuning and you're set. Much better than using a thumbwheel.
909's and 909X's are a little deaf off the whip -- just add some wire. They will also handle external antennas, where a lot of other portables really won't (depending on local and nearby SW signal strengths).
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Another vote for the Satellit 750. Maybe a bit big for a portable but it does have good SSB performance.
If that is too big for you, try the Tecsun PL-600. Smaller in size and price but still has nice SSB tuning.
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Well, between the reviews, Ryver, PMs, and here, the portable still came down to Tecsun. That Grundig I'm sure is sweet for ssb but would be like carrying a small boombox and I wanted a single hand radio, I got the Tecsun 880 off Amazon Prime in 1.5 days. It has the latest firmware, is more sensitive than the Sony 7600G thing, sounds nicer, and ssb tuning is a dream compared to the Sony. Lots of bandwidths for shortwave. It came with a retro pleather case which I will never use, a spool extra antenna which I have not tried, usb cable, cheap earphones, giant poster of features, and simple manual... I'm quite happy with it. The only ding is there is a sticky spot in the fine tuning wheel every revolution in the same place. Not a huge thing. I was already hearing 6950 and 6955 usb dance music a little after 7pm local. I give it 4.5/5 stars because of the sticky tuning wheel and the ssb seemed to be off 0.2 kc on wwv 15 mhz when I first turned it on but later seemed much closer to where it should be so I'm still evaluating that.
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If that sticking point is right in the center setting, that's by design. It's meant to find the 0 setting since they don't have any markings. Just speaking from my experience with the 600.
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If that sticking point is right in the center setting, that's by design. It's meant to find the 0 setting since they don't have any markings. Just speaking from my experience with the 600.
ditto, sounds like that could be a center detent placed there by design
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I don't think so because it is a continuously turning wheel. It is not like the Sony where the fine tuning goes only half a turn each direction.
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I don't think so because it is a continuously turning wheel. It is not like the Sony where the fine tuning goes only half a turn each direction.
Is it right in the center position?
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I have a maybe 8-10 year old Sony 7600 and I HATE the ssb tuning wheel. It is so sensitive and you never really nail the ssb tuning. No great complaints other than this other than general ergonomics. What about a Tecsun 880 or 660? Do you guys have recommendations with the ssb tuning on these or any other ones I should consider in a portable? No SDR or big radios, already have one of each.
I would recommend the older classic portables, SW55 and especially the Pan RFB65. I did a comparison that was posted on SWLing Post, of the 909X, a Sony SW100, and the Panasonic and the Pan and Sony blew the 909x away.
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The 660 has the center indent tuner iirc, and you can never get the master oscillator aligned so upper and lower are at 0 beat on all bands with it centered.
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Moof, I still really like the Radio Shack Dx-440 and DX-390. I think the Dx-440 is really a Sangean ats-803a. They are not as compact as a kaito 1102, but they are portable and work well for me. SSB tuning is an art!
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Sony ICF-2010 is a solid performer. I've had one since Apr 1988 and will die with it.
Also have the 7600. Its very meh. It doesn't get used much. Have a ATS-909X and works ok. Also a PL-660. Don't use that much now as the antenna broke (my fault, not Tecsun's).
The RF-B65... I want to get one.
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I've had several portables with BFO (beat frequency oscillator) and one without -- the Sony ICF-2010. Both have pros and cons for pirate radio listening.
While the Sony is a better radio overall the lack of a BFO is a disadvantage for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it needs occasional tweaking to adjust to crystal drift and it's not easy to do with the Sony. And the Sony's VFO doesn't tune in fine enough increments to compensate. The Palstar needs the same occasional tweaking but it's really simple to do and the adjustment screw is easy to access. Without that occasional tweaking the pitch will be off on sideband broadcasters that are dead center on the frequency, or whichever fraction the radio can tune to.
With a BFO it's less critical. Just twiddle the knob until the pitch sounds right. You can tune off-frequency to minimize QRM from an adjacent station, then twiddle the BFO to compensate. I had to do that Friday to catch Northwoods Radio on my older Panasonic portable, while there was interference from an adjacent utility station. I just tuned down to 6934 and twiddled the BFO.
Problem is, BFOs tend to be drifty so I need to retune them every few minutes. Same problem with my old Magnavox D-2935. Great sounding large portable but the BFO is drifty.
Right now my Sony ICF-2010 is off pitch on sideband so nothing sounds quite right. It's great in AM though, especially with the sync detector.
So I mostly use the little Panasonic or the Magnavox for pirates, even though I have to babysit the BFO knob.
The Palstar doesn't have a BFO, but can tune in fine enough increments with the VFO tuning knob to get an acceptable pitch, even with sideband broadcasts that aren't dead center on frequency or even drifty. Chris probably remembers that Rocky Mountain pirate station that we literally had to chase with the tuning knobs as the frequency drifted around wildly. Fun challenge, though, not a criticism. You couldn't automate the reception of that station!
The Palstar is a great radio, semi-portable with AA batteries or an outboard battery pack. But it really needs a good external antenna to be at peak performance. Otherwise you'll do just as well with a good portable on a whip. I've hardly used the Palstar the past couple of years since our apartment complex maintenance crews kept zeroing in on my stealth antennas and tearing them down. They were just cheap magnet wire loops fed with cable TV cable as feedline, but it was a hassle to keep putting 'em back up on weekends and holidays.
I've had many other portables with BFO tuning and they're all about the same, including all the popular Sangean or Uniden made Radio Shack models. All were good enough.
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Lately I've been using my Tecsun PL-600 a lot more than I ever really have. When I first got it, I found that I had a hard time with weaker signals and got the Grundig Satellit 750 within a month, so the PL-600 was neglected. However, now that I have a much better understanding of SWLing, I have to say that I'm more impressed with it, including the SSB. Yes, it can sound extremely distorted - IF the signal is strong. But I have found one workaround - retract the antenna (if using the whip, which if it's a strong signal, is all you need in the first place). That effectively attenuates it to the point of easy listening, and I have to say I'm impressed with the audio quality of SSB once you have the distortion under control.
The problem seems to be that the internal circuitry gives the signal a lot of gain. I'm not sure where (I'm the complete opposite of an electronics expert or a tinkerer), but there's a mod on youtube where someone put in a 1k ohm resistor in and it attenuates that gain. Personally, I'm not sure I would do that because I don't know what that would do to weak signals. But then again, I live far from any non-ham SSB transmissions, so it's less of an issue with me.
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...The RF-B65... I want to get one.
Good solid little portable. Here's a video of it, receiving Northwoods Radio's J Geils show on Friday, here in Texas.
Northwoods Radio on Panasonic RF B-65: https://youtu.be/VF4--i3DuH8
I might get something a little smaller and lighter, though, for bicycling. It's heavily made, with an aluminum grille, etc.
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I had a neighbor with a Drake SW8 portable, and I thought that thing rocked well on SSB. Then again, it is a table top unit in a portable package. But, if you have the cheaper portables that use the wobbly sounding BFO's, use a well regulated, non-switching, power supply, and then keep them away from transformers, induction fan motors, and your cell / smart phone. They'll still sound like schytt, but at least they'll be more stable. Trial and error with BFO's from a (Now ribbon defunked.), Sony SW100S, Sangean ATS-803A, and a Kenwood TH-F6A.
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I still really like the Radio Shack Dx-440
Agree. The DX-440 was my first shortwave receiver, and it did great with SSB. Actually, it did great with a lot of things until the tuning knob broke when I dropped it. :'(
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DX-440 was also my first one. It was good in the day but this Tecsun 880 kicks its ass. I'm still quite happy with it for my handheld quick check alternative. If I hear it halfway decent on the handheld, then I check the other radio currently hooked up. The SDRPlay and big old Icom still beat it but what you expect?
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The DX440 is a good SSB radio, and the narrow filter helps for CW (even thought it's nothing like I imagine a real CW filter is like -- but the narrow filter does help). The 440 isn't quite as sensitive as some modern radios, but with even a decent indoor antenna you can hear the world, and the AGC is natural sounding enough to make for pleasant DXing, whether it's the ham bands or SWBC bands.
The 440's biggest strength is its sound on SW, especially through headphones. Amazing.