[Premium-Rx] Utility Monitoring Receiver

[David Schofield]

Hi Spencer,

I use an AOR AR-5000 and an Icom IC-R8500 used for similar purposes, 
with reasonable results.
The HF voice squelch on both of these units is pretty good, although 
does get fooled into opening by some atmospheric noise now and again, 
but no HF squelch I have ever seen is perfect.

I know both of these receivers are technically "super scanners" and not 
bespoke HF communications receivers, but both perform exceptionally well 
on HF.
Both stand up to even the best HF receivers in my collection, and I have 
quite a few....

The other advantage for your friend, as far as aircraft utility 
monitoring goes is that they also cover VHF / UHF, so he could monitor 
local aircraft all the way to the destination should he so desire.

During HF monitoring neither has any relays in operation, although both 
have relays which operate when switching from HF to VHF/UHF.

The very best HF squelch on any Rx I own is on the Collins HF-80 series 
receivers I own, either the HF-8054 or HF-851S-1 these have virtually 
"bomb proof" squelch, but are very cumbersome receivers and not easy to 
locate on the second hand market or maintain.
The only other receiver I own that has a very good HF squelch is the STC 
STR-8212 but these are virtually impossible to find and are hopelessly 
unreliable in everyday use.

After that you get into the likes of WJ-8711A's and TenTec Rx-340's 
which are probably outside the $1000 USD second hand price bracket 
unless he's very lucky.
If  WJ-8711A like performance is required within his price bracket then 
the WJ-8712A may be worth considering, these can be dropped on 
reasonably cheaply and although they are PC controlled receivers once 
configured can be left to run on their own, and resume the last 
configuration when powered on, so theoretically could just be set up 
with the desired channels and left to run, the down side being that they 
have no frequency display / front panel.
The frequency info is available on the serial port at all times, so in 
theory a small micro controller based external frequency readout could 
be built.


Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dave.S.







On 08/01/2016 05:07, spencer wrote:
> All-
> I have a highly technical friend who has long been involved in radio communications who has asked a question of me that I thought I would post to the list and see what others might recommend.
>
> Here is his question, along with a few qualifiers.
>
> He is looking for a quality HF receiver that can be used to monitor a number (let's say 30) of HF frequencies. These will be spread across the 4-22 MHz range. These will all be placed in memory and the receiver left to scan. He will use a broadband loop for his receive antenna.
>
> He wants receiver audio squelched, and the receiver to stop and monitor SSB utility traffic, mainly aeronautical traffic (his wife works for a European air carrier and he has some interest in this traffic as a result). This seems to call for syllabic squelch rather than noise squelch, especially given that the receiver will see widely varying levels of band noise as it scans the wide frequency range he is interested in.
>
> He also does not want the noise of opening and closing relays in the receiver preselector. His goal is silence when not receiving traffic.
>
> His goal is to spend around $1000 USD for a used unit. My thought was that using one of the transceivers designed for 'commercial' mobile or base station use may be his best choice. Something like a Micom/Mobat, Codan, or Barrett. He does not need a receiver with a tuning knob since he already has this capability.
>
> I have not used any of these radios personally, though do have a Motorola Micom receiver that has very nice syllabic squelch action.
>
> So what would readers recommend? I am pretty sure the Motorola/Mobat gear all have syllabic squelch but don't know if there are relay switched front end filters. I assume the Ausie gear also has good SSB squelch, but don't have direct experience.
>
> Thanks in advance for your feedback on this. I realize it's a bit 'on the edge' of a premium rx topic!
>
> Spencer K7SLB
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