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

[Michael O'Beirne]

Dear Paul

Many thanks for your helpful comments.  I am sorely tempted!!  However, 
another line of thought is saying to me that direct digital conversion is 
the way ahead and to wait for a while and skip the 8711 generation.  There 
is a brilliant new Swiss-made HF transceiver where the limiting factor to 
reception is harmonic interference from the PSU, and even that is low. 
Can't recall the name but they have a tie up with Rohde & Schwarz, who 
really do understand such matters.

If only someone would make a receiver or transceiver with direct digital 
conversion but with the panel of an 8711 at a price far removed from some of 
the new R&S stuff.  A radio dependant on a laptop is just not for me.  I 
want a proper radio in a chunky case with a nice weighted tuning knob and 
other knobs of the Berco variety (as on the RA1772), a decent Sifam or 
Simpson meter and quality push buttons and displays.  Beside that I don't 
have a modern lap top and in any event their screens are far too small to 
read easily.

I find you either love or hate a receiver and I suspect you rather agree 
:-).  My keeps forever (so far) are the RA17L plus its many add ons in a 
tall robust rack, the RA1772 and my RA3701.  I like chunky radio with 
interesting mechanics, though I am beginning to need help in moving them now 
:-( .

My dislikes are most Eddystones (though the 1650 is quite fun), the Drake 
R7A and the STC STR8212.  The last is old now but was built the hard way and 
has superb DSP selectivity figures that exceed WJ's, but the fan noise and 
poxy tuning would drive a monk to murder.  It was clearly not designed to be 
used by a human hand for long.

73s
Michael
G8MOB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <paul at 8zo.com>
To: "Michael O'Beirne" <michaelob666 at ntlworld.com>
Cc: "PREMIUM-RX" <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2013 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] WJ-8711A or WJ-8712P


The WJ-8712P receiver is in a package with a front panel that is approx. 
8-1/2 wide by 3-1/2 high.  The depth is a desk-challenging 20 inches, but 
the small front panel footprint and light weight make that an acceptable 
trade-off.  The WJ-8712P will do everything a WJ-8711/HF-1000 will do spare 
two notable things.  The front panel volume control adjusts the headphones 
only and not the speaker output, through a simple three wire jumper job 
reverses that.  The second thing is that the analog meter has been replaced 
by an LED bar-graph.  After a short period of adjustment, I actually *like* 
the bar graph as it is located directly below the least significant digits 
of the frequency display allowing easy tuning for maximum signal strength 
vs. frequency at a glance.  Operation is so similar to the 8711A/1000 
receivers that there is virtually no learning curve.

I have all three receivers side-by-side, and the superior performance of the 
8712P is very evident.  The (expensive) push-buttons on the front panel are 
all back-lighted a cool green matching the displays.  This is a *beautiful* 
receiver!  The shielding does its job as there is no detectable 
spare/strange noises.  Internally, the 8712P has the same boards as the 
latest 8711A receivers.  Only the front panel and package are different. 
The standard 8711A preselector option may be used, though mine has an 
enhanced two-board preselector in it, presumably intended as a "special" 
unit for a government agency.  It was originally purchased directly from 
DRS/WJ by a person who made the short drive from his office to the company 
to pick it up in person.  Fortunately, I was able to make a deal to buy it 
from the original owner!  Yes, it was expensive, but it is at times my 
favorite receiver so well worth it!

The shortcomings of the 8711/8711A/1000/1000A have been well noted.  As 
others point out, a late 8711A/1000A is certainly better than an early 
8711/1000.  There are some steps detailed here by Steve and others to 
mitigate the shortcomings somewhat.  Even so, I just cannot help myself, and 
really like operating all of these receivers.  They are really a lot of fun 
in a lightweight package!  BTW: there is an interesting story of these 
"reduced cost" receivers (including the Ten-Tec RX-340) that was told here 
some time back by our friend Dr. Jim Garland, W8ZR.

In short, the WJ-8712P is one of the few radios on my permanent "never sell" 
list.  IMO, it is *that* good!

Vy 73 de Paul  W8ZO