[Hammarlund] Hq-180 vs 145 and 170
John Barnard
jfjb at shaw.ca
Thu Mar 2 21:44:10 EST 2006
I've owned a HQ-145 and HQ-180 and still own the SP-600 and R-390A. For
MW DX and recovered audio, my favourite will be the SP-600. IMHO, the
HQ-145 isn't in the same league as the other 3 receivers. When I lived
in Montreal, I managed to hear Saudi Arabia on 1521 kHz using a KIWA MW
loop. Buffalo on 1520 kHz posed a problem with trying to get a clean
signal. I couldn't hear anything on the HQ-180 inspite of having
selective sideband and a notch filter. The R-390A could pick it up the
signal but the filters still allowed bleedover from 1520 kHz. The SP-600
managed to do a great job using a combination of the filters with the
crystal phasing. Very nice, easy to understand signal on 1521 kHz with
next to zero bleedover from 1520 kHz.
My SP-600 had been re-capped when I purchased it so that saved me some
work. As well, the radio cam with an external digital readout which
suited me just fine. The readout does kick out some birdies but isn't
too much of a PITA overall.
2 years ago I purchased a HC-10 in excellent condition and hooked it
into the IF output of the SP-600; in effect, I now have a SP-600 with
notch filter, selectable sideband, passband tuning, selectable AGC and
variable noise limiter. It's a very sweet combination but I did need to
do some minor tweaking with the passband adjustment and the slot filter
adjustment of the HC-10 for near-optimal conditions. I am certainly
convinced that the recovered audio from the SP-600 beats what I can hear
on my Drake R-8B.
My $0.02 worth. Your mileage may vary!
Good DX
John Barnard
mfisch at kent.edu wrote:
> Hi:
>
> I have both an HQ-145 and an HQ-170, and I'm thinking of replacing
> both by either a Sp-600 or Hq-180. Does anybody out there have
> thoughts: good move, neutral move, Hq-180 beats Sp-600, ... ?
> I typically SWL and am working to get General lic. I've checked the
> net and it appears there is a dedicated Sp-600 following and an
> equally dedicated Hq-180 following. A while back I listened to W1AW
> on both the -145 and -170 and thought both were good, although I have
> probably not developed a discerning ear yet.
>
> Thanks for help
>
> Mike
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