I am currently looking at at Heathkit 7800 if i can sell my current SW receiver. I was wandering if that would be a decent receiver to get? as it would replace my S-120 which works decent but i'm ready to upgrade. If a 7800 is a good receiver what is a good price to pay for one? i currently see one on ebay and its well over 100.00 and i just havent found much on that radio anywhere online unlike lots of others.. If it is not worth messing with what else should i look for as far as a table top SW receiver in the 100-170.00 price range? I know Kenwood makes excellent radios but are usually much more then my price range. I also know radioshack has some good models also but really havent found much from them.
The Heathkit SW7800 was a “low end” desktop in its day. It had digital readout to the closest kHz but this was really just a frequency counter on a VFO (as were many of the first generation digital rigs). This means that it will drift and is not super stable, particularly when you first turn it on, but at least you can tell approximately what freq you are tuned to.
The SW7800 is dual conversion, naturally the second IF was 455 kHz but I am not sure of the first IF. It is AM, LSB, USB, and CW. If I remember right it does not have FM. If unmodified it has 2 filter bandwidths, but only selectable in AM, the SSB/CW bandwidth was a single fixed value. It had a variable attenuator for the front end. But other than that not very many user adjustments
Honestly, it was not a very good receiver without modifications, and I think it was maybe the Radio Database International (or some other similar publication of the day) that did not give it a very good review in 1985. The Radio Shack DX-300 and especially DX-302 were better, in my opinion, and they were not all that good
A decent table top in the $100-170 range is going to be tough to do unless you wait for the right deal. The SW7800 and the DX300/302 can be found in that price range fairly regularly, but are not great radios. Of them all I prefer the DX-302, and still have one on my desk that I turn on pretty regularly. Occasionally you can find Icom R70 and R71’s in this price range, but if you do be ready to pounce on the deal as it will go quick, and also be aware that you often get what you pay for, and a low cost used receiver might be low cost because it has problems. I have seen Yaesu FRG-7000 and FRG-7700’s sell in this price range also, but also uncommon, as they are generally around $100 more than that.
T!