racin06
Member
In your opinion, will the R20 and the 8200 Mark III perform as well as the R75 on HF?
Queston on the ICOM R75, R20 and AOR 8200
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
racin06 said:
I highly doubt it. Radios like the R20 and AOR8200 are wide band receivers, and as such, they often make certain compromises in the circuit design to keep costs and sizes down. The R75 is much more conservative in this approach, being built primarily for HF and some VHF lo.
One place that these compromises often show up is in strong signal handling. Take the 49 mb at night, using a simply 70 foot wire. The R20 and 8200 will very likely overload; all you would hear are the stronger stations apparently stepping on one another and/or showing up in places where they shouldn't be. The R75 should have absolutely no problem with such a setup.
These conditions are typical on the East Coast on NAm; different parts of the world have different signal conditions.
So to summarize; you are much better off getting a R75 for HF and take the low band coverage as a bonus, then using a R20, AOR8200 or any other widebanded radio. Use a scanner for the freqs above 30 mhz.
73s Mike
I presently own both an R75 and an R10, the precursor to the R20. The R10 is subject to severe overload when an external antenna is connected, even when the ATT is on. There is no passband filter, no noise reduction, the noise blanker makes SSB sound worse.
The R20 is good, with a decent portable antenna, if you plan on doing HF monitoring on the go. For the house, definitely go with the R75
The R20 is good, with a decent portable antenna, if you plan on doing HF monitoring on the go. For the house, definitely go with the R75
BANDIT
Member
Get an Icom R8500. Works great on HF from .100Khz all the way to 1300Mhz. Has two antenna inputs, one for HF and the other for VHF. Does AM, USB, LSB, CW, FM and wide or narrow for most modes.
The 9600bps packet out on the back of the rig is the same as a scanner tap. Feed it to a data slicer or sound card and your good to go.
The 9600bps packet out on the back of the rig is the same as a scanner tap. Feed it to a data slicer or sound card and your good to go.
Good advice, if you have a spare $1,500 lying around with nothing else happening. I'd rather spend the $500 or so that any of the other ones mentioned cost and spend the $1,000 on more radio equipment. :roll:BANDIT said:
racin06
Member
Well, I've decided to purchase both the R75 and R20, though I am thinking about the AOR 8200 Mark IIIB in instead of the R20. Is the 8200 worth the extra $100?
racin06
Member
tango said:What is a decent portable antenna (HF) for the R20
sorry my english...i am norwegian
First of all, welcome to the board! Your English is just fine. I'm not sure what the best portable HF antenna solution is for the 8200. In my case, the telescopic antenna is sufficient to receive shortwave broadcasting stations throughout the world. Using the telescopic antenna to monitor HF utility stations is difficult. What did help for me is to clip a 30 ft. indoor random wire onto the telescopic antenna. This greatly improve the HF utility station reception. Of course, the performance still isn't up to what a tabletop receiver like the Icom R-75 can produce.
AOR does manufacture antennas. Check them out at http://www.aorusa.com/antennas.html
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