Got my radio...

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corbintechboy

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Hello all,

Today is a big day for me! I received what I will call my first "real" radio.

I ordered the Yaesu FRG-100 and it arrived in pristine condition and I am very happy with my purchase. Now of course tonight will be when the real fun begins.

I posted a while back about looking for a radio. I have this bad(?) habit of having to do mass amounts of research before jumping into a big purchase. I considered a couple SDR radios and in the end decided that I did not want to marry a radio to a PC, the choice to control one via a PC is really nice but an SDR gives no choice. Then the real battle came to the R75 vs others.

I decided on the FRG-100 because it has some really good things going for it and is really a great radio, just not that well known for the things it does well. The only real thing I may miss from the R75 is the PBT, with a little ECSS I don't really think I will miss that much.

The FRG-100 is a very stable radio which fits well with the utility monitoring I want to do, like decoding and whatnot. The radio is also very sensitive which is nice. This little radio should become a DX dream after I get an antenna figured out.

As far as the antenna goes, I am trying to do some research into the magnetic loop. Looks really nice for the amount of noise it will cut out. I tried posting on the loop yahoo group a couple days ago and have got no answer, I may very well be on my own in the endeavor. Thats ok with me though, not allergic to good ole fashioned research!

Just thought I would give an update and share in my excitement.
 

ka3jjz

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You want links to research for loops, here you go

Loops - The RadioReference Wiki

If you have the room, a skyloop is an excellent performer (not everyone has the room for this) - however, be aware that even one that is not tuned to a specific freq might work quite well....73 Mike
 

N1SQB

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Hey Techboy!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing tons of research before making a purchase. It's called making an informed decision! If more people did what you do, there would be a lot less dissatisfied customers and a lot less complaining on message forms and forums.....Enjoy your new toy!

Manny
 

corbintechboy

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You want links to research for loops, here you go

Loops - The RadioReference Wiki

If you have the room, a skyloop is an excellent performer (not everyone has the room for this) - however, be aware that even one that is not tuned to a specific freq might work quite well....73 Mike

Thank you.

Been reading through there and many places... INFO OVERLOAD!!!! :D.

Hey Techboy!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing tons of research before making a purchase. It's called making an informed decision! If more people did what you do, there would be a lot less dissatisfied customers and a lot less complaining on message forms and forums.....Enjoy your new toy!

Manny

Thank you.

My wife thinks I push the research way overboard. Sometimes it may take me a year to make a purchase. I do usually walk away with the feeling I made the right choice, no amount of money can replace that feeling.

I will have a blast when the darn sun tucks in for the night :D.
 

ka3jjz

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Also see the Utility section (in the topics area) for lots of links to services and freqs. Good place to start, before you really go nuts trying to look around for activity

HF - The RadioReference Wiki

Besides, I really want to see you go postal (hi) and lose your mind completely...73 Mike
 

corbintechboy

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Also see the Utility section (in the topics area) for lots of links to services and freqs. Good place to start, before you really go nuts trying to look around for activity

HF - The RadioReference Wiki

Besides, I really want to see you go postal (hi) and lose your mind completely...73 Mike

Thanks for the link.

Been doing the utility thing for many years. Very happy to be back! Be much happier when my cables arrive. I have been postal for years :D.. Normal? WHERE!....lol

I really need to focus on the antenna. Radio Romania playing now so the setup "works". I have a noise floor of S6-8 and sometimes higher which is horrible. I have had the same issues with past radios and have always chalked it up to noisy electronics, seems that may have never been an issue.

In about a week I am going to start the magnetic loop which I think will bring the noise way down. Live in a really old house with really old wires with many people using different gadgets. With me being "the friendly household geek", I get the "privilege" of have 2 routers in my room and one being wireless. I am in a RF nightmare. I will tame the beast.... May just have questions during the journey.
 

corbintechboy

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Just purchased:

20 feet of coiled copper tube (3/8 in.)
4 clip on chokes
10-490pf variable capacitor
9:1 balun
Soldering iron
Flux
Have coax

Should be set as soon as the items arrive and I get it all setup. According to what I have worked up, this should give me a coverage from 4.1Mhz up to around 12Mhz give or take. Plus, being a magnetic loop should give me some NULLs and also give me a slightly lower noise floor.

Can't wait! :D
 
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SCPD

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Well, imho, you could have had a much better radio, but it depends on how much you spent for the FRG-100. Also, I hope it's the "B" model you got and not the original FRG-100.

I owned the radio for about a year and while it was very sensitive, it had some shortcomings.

If you really get into SWL, then you'll really miss not having a dedicated keypad for frequency entry.
 

corbintechboy

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Well, imho, you could have had a much better radio, but it depends on how much you spent for the FRG-100. Also, I hope it's the "B" model you got and not the original FRG-100.

I owned the radio for about a year and while it was very sensitive, it had some shortcomings.

If you really get into SWL, then you'll really miss not having a dedicated keypad for frequency entry.

After owning the radio for a short while, I am starting to realize that it may be a little to sensitive. After owning the RX320D and having the selectivity of that little black box, I may be spoiled.

I do some decoding and my wefax images look like crap because the filters are a little wide and that mixed with over sensitivity equals much noise in my images.

This is the B model and I only gave 325 for it. I do think it is a fine radio for listening, just not much on the utility front. I don't miss the keypad, using software to do the work.

I made a loop and it works wonderful. I picked up a wefax station from Russia and would have had a nice decode if the filters were better.

May sell it and buy another RX320. I did manage to bring the noise floor down a bit with ferrite snap ons. They work well.
 

corbintechboy

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Just an update:

Traded my FRG for a RX320D. WOW! I used to have this radio and vowed I would never own one again because of the noise, I got a noise floor of 3-4 S-Units across the bands! I have tamed the beast!

With RXPlus and the DSP and the selectivity of this radio, the new found pleasure is insane! No more noisy pictures, great rejection, awesome stability and less noise then I ever thought this radio could do! Got my awesome 15ft loop working like a gem. Will post pictures soon.
 

lanbergld

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Congrats on the FRG-100. I had 3 of those. The FRG-100 is one the best utility receivers, next to the ICOM IC-R75. All I use are magnetic loops, however mine are indoors and wound on large ferrite rods. The FRG-100 does pretty good down on longwave wihout any modification. And its audio is a little better than the IC-R75.


Larry Lanberg

Richmond VA

Flickr: radio10's Photostream
 
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