[R-390] Will trade nice 390 or 390-A for

[2002tii]

Scott wrote:

> Thank you VERY much for telling me about the Ten Tec.

I would hate to have turned you off on the RX340, and hope you will try
one for yourself. It is, in very many ways, a truly great radio, and
except for the R8Bs it is the last radio I would sell. In fact, I'd
probably sell one of the R8Bs first. Which is why its faults annoy me
so much. I've not spoken to Ten-Tec, but it is possible that some of
what I perceive as faults could be corrected by revised firmware.

> Do you know anything about the Collins HF-2050? I have an offer to
> trade for one in excellent condition.

I have one here. I'm not in love with it. Some of the most valuable
features were omitted from production units when the Canadian
government revised the design before (or during?) production. For
whatever reason, the controls and menu options remain but do nothing.
Their linear regulated power supplies run scorching hot and burn down.
[If you end up with one, let me know -- I have a terrific mod that
cures them completely, without need for a fan, and can be easily
reversed if desired.] Every time you touch a control, it switches to a
keylock mode, so you have to preface nearly every command with a mode
choice. Many of the controls use one switch (each), so you have to
scroll through a menu of selections to get the one you want. And there
are three tuning rates, NONE of which is suitable for band scanning.
(Way too slow, too fast, and way too fast.) Again, all in my personal
opinion. I could go on if I got it out and refreshed my memory. It DOES
have very intelligible audio. One Internet source attributes this to
the DSP, but in fact it is because the audio frequency response is
tailored (broad peak at 1000-2000 cps and weak low frequencies). You
can do the same with any radio and a parametric EQ.

The JRC NRD-545 shares some of these horrible ergonomic features
(although some of its other features are superbly ergonomic. Go
figure!)

> About your " B " version. I wish that I could help you with the docs.
> After hearing what you have written, I would like to have one of the
> radios as well.

They come up on eBay occasionally -- I've seen 2 in maybe 5 years.
Neither seller knew what it was, so they were just advertised as
RA6790/GMs. Buyers knew, though! They went for $2000-3000 rather than
the normal $500.

> I have a friend that has an R8B. I will try to borrow it for a while.
> I have only heard and read great things about the radio.

I concur, although in fairness I must point out that there are a few
things I would have done differently. First are the "anti tactile"
rubber keys, like a TV remote control. I know why they did it (cost and
reliability), but IMO they feel awful. The best tactile keys ever, in
my view, are the ones HP used in their old LED engineering calculators
(HP29c, etc.). The keys that JRC uses on the NRD-525 and NRD-545 are
nearly as good. Rubber keys are ... well ... unpreferred. Some people
complain about the light plastic tuning knob. Not me. I did pull the
encoder out of one of mine and washed the silicone goo out of the shaft
bearing, then oiled it with 5W30 Mobil 1. (Don't try this unless you
are willing to buy a new one -- it is put together with bent tabs and
not designed to be opened. But I like it so well I'm gonna do the other
one.) It also has more spurious responses than I'd consider ideal, but
they are very low in level and do not intrude if you have a decent
antenna on it (atmospheric noise drowns them out). Even with the things
that are not entirely to my liking, I consider it the best HF radio I
have ever used. The audio is absolutely superb, largely because of the
LC IF filters. (I do recommend using a parametric EQ to make the very
weakest signals a bit easier to copy, but this is the cherry on the
icing on the cake and nearly all radios can benefit from this.) It
doesn't have the near-infinite choices of IF bandwidths that the TT
RX340, WJ-8711/HF-1000, or JRC NRD-545 have, but it turns out that the
ones it has are exceptionally well chosen so you almost never feel you
need more, particularly considering that the IF shift works in all
modes and the synchronous AM detector allows you to choose USB, LSB, or
DSB. Speaking of the synch detector, it is the best in the business.
Better than the Lowe, the Palstar, the AOR, the Ten-Tec, and the
Watkins-Johnson; better than JRC's ECSS; and better than the Sherwood
SE-3 external unit. It alone is worth the price. (Sadly, the R8 and R8A
do not share this same circuit.) It alone among the digital receivers I
am familiar with lets you set the tuning step for the "up" and "down"
buttons independently from the tuning knob. With the Ten-Tec, the
NRD-545, and others that even have up/down buttons, you are constantly
having to change the tuning step when you go from the up/down buttons
to the knob. For example, with the TT RX340, I'll set the tuning step
to 10 kc, 9 kc, or 5 kc to step up and down the MW and SW broadcast
bands. Then I'll decide to fine tune around the vicinity of a station
with the knob, and when I give it a quarter turn I've gone half a
megacycle because the knob is also stepping 10, 9, or 5 kc per encoder
pulse. Not the R8B! You can set them independently. Further, if you
want, you can set automatic steps by band and mode. (You can also set
auto IF bandwidths by mode, and go manual any time you want.) Anyway,
to make a long story shorter, it's the only radio I like well enough to
own two of anymore.

Best regards,

Don