[Premium-Rx] WJ-8711A or WJ-8712P

[Michael O'Beirne]

Gents

Steve's recent posting on the shortcomings of the HF1000 and 8711 brought a 
smile to my face.  I also have to endorse many of Richard's comments on the 
continued excellence of the RA1772, albeit that it has none of the frills of 
a modern receiver, but is it significantly worse for that?

Many years ago I was excited to see an early HF1000 on display at a radio 
show in London, but far less enthused when I got to handling it.  The word 
"cheap" sprang at me.  The knobs, buttons and meter, the flimsy case and 
lack of screening and general build quality were yukkkk when compared with 
what I had seen of the gorgeous WJ-8888 and their VHF & UHF models and from 
experience of the similar superb build quality one expects from Collins, 
Racal, Siemens and R&S, not to mention the UK's military Clansman's innards 
and the other "usual suspects".

The distributors thoughtfully provided reasonable headphones for the punters 
but did themselves no favours by using an antenna of about 6 metres of wire 
dangling from the rear which picked up all the nasty crud from a large 
public hall lit by fluorescent tubes. (I think it was the sports venue at 
Pickett's Lock in NE London if those with long memories can recall).  The 
Wellbrook Loop was not then in existance.

The operation of the panel was a complete dream (ignoring the tacky knobs 
and buttons) but the audio - of a mass of buzzes and crud - was abysmal 
compared with the experiences of my lovely RA1772 and my earlier RA17L plus 
SSB adaptors (all in super condition BTW).

I appreciate that there have been many software and some physical 
improvements and that many members treasure their newer versions, and I 
might well do as well after an updated experience.  However, to outpace my 
RA1772, the audio's THD on a single tone at 1,000 Hz will have to be less 
than 0.75%.

I have always wondered why WJ did not repackage the 8711 with proper 
screening and robustness and keep the RF and audio physically well separated 
from the data and power sides, as is done for example in the Racal RA3701 
and Plessey PR2280 where the robust screened modules plug into a 
well-screened backplane to pick up the data and DC and the RF is applied via 
miniature coax jumpers on SMBs plugging into the rear of the modules.  Such 
a receiver should not have been vastly more expensive and would have been a 
dream to use.  [I appreciate that a solid die cast chassis may have been 
very expensive but surely after the master die has been created the 
subsequent castings can't be that costly.].  However, given that WJ's market 
seems to have been mainly specific contracts for Government bodies and that 
they tended to build one-offs as and when required, I can see that they were 
not much interested in a receiver for general use costing perhaps US$10k. 
Perhaps Terry can add something to this.

The WJ-8712P presumably does this but does it have the same 19 inch front 
panel and operating convenience of the 8711?  Or does it have to be used 
with a PC?

73s
Michael
G8MOB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <richardreich at aol.com>
To: "Steve Pappin" <pappy92651 at yahoo.com>; 
<premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net>; <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2013 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] WJ-8711A or WJ-8712P


Hello Steve.

I'm not going to blast you.
On the contrary, I like to hear those snippets of privileged information 
that normally only come by as rumours.
I could tell you a few eyebrow raising stories about Marconi before they 
faded away.

Although my 8711 (on the front panel and labelled HF1000 on the back) has 
given problems, I am still very happy with it. Its great to use - especially 
when compared to the modern trend of having one knob or button having 
several functions - soooo irritating when trying to do something in a hurry.
The 8711 doesn't perform quite as well in the reception stakes as a recently 
aligned Racal RA1772 - but then few receivers do.

Happy New Year

Richard