[JRC] Re 545 comparisons....

Dan Robinson [email protected]
Tue, 17 Jun 2003 09:58:09 -0400


I recently acquired a R71A, virtually brand new, from 
an old friend who never used it.  I had always been curious 
about it since I had leaped over the ICOM to JRC in the 1980's.

I still have a 525 and enjoy it's ease of tuning (silky smooth
main tuning knob, and easily accessed slewing buttons above).
But the sound quality is most certainly inferior.  The noise 
blanker (two position push pull) never seemed to do much at 
all.  However, the addition of a good external speaker (the 
NVA-88 which is the matching speaker for the 525).

Now on the 71A -- first, it needs a good antenna, impedance
matched, not just a piece of wire.  I used it with a plain 
wire, as I'm in an apartment situation, and it really needs
a good antenna.  But once you're past that, and perhaps do 
a bit of filter modification (see Sherwood, etc) the 71A is 
a very nice radio.  Design-wise it's just a mind-blower -- 
solid and well thought out.

Back to the JRC comparisons....when I had the chance to 
buy a 535 in the early 1990s I did a side-by-side comparison
with the Drake R8, which was then out.  No contest -- the 
Drake's audio is just superior, and I imagine the same 
applies to the R8B v. JRC comparisons today.  I still have 
my R8.  I would say that any of the Drake R8 series receivers
would more than suffice for the toughest of DX situations.
I had my R8 while living in Thailand in the 90s, and I had
regular reception of everything from Bhutan and Laos, including
small regional stations there and in Vietnam, to low power 
Indonesians.

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