[Premium-Rx] Harris RF-590A vs. WJ 8618B(S1) on HF

[Peter Gottlieb]

Yeah, I aligned it, and it meets or slightly beats specs.  I have a preselector 
bypass mode wired up to the NB button on the front panel and that adds a bit of 
sensitivity as well, at which point it beats specs by a good margin.  However, 
it's not so much sensitivity but rather a noisy environment that is what I have 
to deal with.

Peter

On 1/23/2015 11:07 PM, chuck maurer wrote:
> Peter,
> Have you ever tried to align the RF-590a. I have two and after alignment and a little tweaking they are amazing.  Before alignment, Deoxit (quick drying flavor) the board connectors, switches and pins on the plug-in filters, if yours has them.
>
> Chuck
> W5API
>
>
> On Jan 23, 2015, at 8:46 PM, Peter Gottlieb <hpnpilot at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I've been using my RF-590A for HF listening as my 8618B(S1) only went down to 20 MHz.
>>
>> Recently I modified the 8618B(S1) to tune down to zero, but I didn't expect great performance, as it seems designed as a VHF-UHF receiver (20 to 1100 MHz range).
>>
>> Well, wow, was I surprised.  Performance of the 8618B(S1) is outstanding on HF.  The entire sound is better, it is easier to hear weak stations, clearer and more readable. I have heard sensitivity drops a lot at the very low end due to the PIN diode antenna switch, so I will have to investigate that, but listening to a 392 kHz NDB the 8618B(S1) is slightly more sensitive than the RF-590A so how much can I complain?  I think I have too much noise here for going much lower anyhow.
>>
>> The 8618B(S1) does lack some of the niceties of the RF-590A such as changeable AGC speed, but my unit does have SSB and variable BFO.  I could use narrower filters (my narrowest is 6 Khz).
>>
>> I've also learned a lot about the internals (including firmware) of the 8618B(S1) and have gotten to really like that receiver.
>>
>> It's very cool to have a receiver which goes from about 9 kHz all the way to 1100 MHz.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents and comparison between two nice units.
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