The FROG rated right up there with the old SW-8 and the dynamite Hammarlund boat anchors.
Gonna have to respectfully disagree there. The FRG-7 does not, and did not, rate with the upper end Hammarlund or Hallicrafters rigs. And the SW-8 came along over a decade later, and was in a different class from the FRG-7. Don’t get me wrong, I love my FRG-7, and still use it occasionally. I also still have its younger siblings in the line, the FRG-7000, FRG-7700, and FRG-8800 (the FRG-7700 is in daily use, right next to all the new gear). I never bothered with the FRG-9600 as I saw it as a departure from the line.
At its price point the FRG-7 was a very good performer, one of, if not the, best you could buy for that amount of money at that time. It was about twice the cost of the Realistic DX-150/160 or DX-200 (or the Lafayette BCR-101) and more than twice as good, the DX-300 was in the same cost bracket as the FRG but except for the digital readout on the DX-300 the FRG was the better of the two. The Drake SSR-1 was also one of its competitors, and they were very similar in price and performance although again I thought the FRG-7 was the better of the two. The FRG-7 came out after the Allied/Realistic SX-190 left production, but they performed very much on par with each other with possibly a slight nod to the Frog, although the SX-190 has not aged as well as the FRG-7 has. When I first got my FRG-7 the SX-190 was the solid state rig I used most, although most of my primary rigs were tube at that time. But the FRG-7 simply did not compete with the likes of the Hammarlund HQ-180, SP-600, HQ-200, or HQ-215, radios long out of production by the time the FRG-7 came around as Hammarlund itself was gone by then. It probably did exceed the performance of the low end or early Hammarlunds, along the lines of the HQ-100 or HQ-110.
The mid to late 70’s (FRG-7 heyday) was kind of a dry time for SWLs as far as serious entry level equipment went. Most of what could be had new was simply cheap. There was lots of cheap gear out there, and there was some very good, and expensive, gear out there, but the mid-point gear, like the FRG-7, the SSR-1, and the DX-300 was few and far between. In the late 60’s the mid-point buyer had many selections to choose from, and again by the mid 80’s the mid-point was well represented. Yes, the FRG-7 is probably iconic for its period…even if not the best that could be had.
Today the mid-point has again ebbed. What is mid-point today? What will be the FRG-7 of 2010? Probably the Icom R-75 is it.
T!
Thing is, I still listen to it now and then admiring it for what it was - but it isn't my main rx that's for sure.
