"Michael J." wrote in message
...
greets all,

Any suggestions of what the best analog VHF tuner would be? Preferably a
unit capable
of receiving NFM, WFM and AM. Thanks.


Define analog? Do you mean it must have a dial to turn? Or must it really be
a VFO based tuning system with no synthesized steps, no matter how small?

I understand the desire to actually have a dial to turn, I like tuning in
this method myself. But, a synthesized rig with adequately small tuning
steps should not be a problem for any application I can think of. Depending
on the exact application you can select the tuning steps you require. For
FM, either wide or narrow, I can not think of any real reason to use smaller
than 1 kHz or maybe 0.5 kHz steps. The capture and AFC would take care of
the less than 500 Hz tuning error that would be the result with 1 kHz steps,
and 0.5 kHz steps would result in a step error of less than 250 hZ. These
size tuning steps often are fine for AM as well, although 0.1 Hz is better.
Naturally, for SSB reception I can see the need for smaller steps, often
0.01 kHz (10 Hz) or smaller.

If you are talking about a new unit I doubt you will find a VFO base radio
available. Almost everything these days covering that band is synthesized to
some extent. Anything that is not synth probably is fairly low end and will
not allow you to select anything but AM in that band. However, if you really
only mean you want table-top unit with a tuning dial then there are a few
new units out there. Most of them are fairly high end, and thus expensive.

Icom R-8500 ( I use this myself, and like it a lot)

Yaesu VR-5000

AOR AR-One

AOR AR8600

AOR AR5000

AOR AR7000

JRC NRD-525 with VHF option

JRC NRD-545 with Wide Band converter

Alternately you could select any of a wide list of SW based receivers with
external converters to get you into the right range. The only shortcoming
here is that most of these RXs do not have WFM, but they normally do have
every other mode. JRC, Drake, Kenwood, Yaesu, Icom all make applicable
units.

On the used market, but still modern with digital readouts and synth based,
the choices get very wide.

Icom R7000 (another one I use, and one of my favorites)

Icom R7100

Icom R100

Icom R9000 E & L

Yaesu FRG-965

YAesu FRG-9600

Yaesu FRG-8800 with VHF option

Yaesu FRG-7700 with VHF converter (another combo I use and like)

Kenwood R-2000 with VHF option

Kenwood R-5000 with VHF option

Drake has a unit with a VHF option also, but I forget the designator right
now.

And there are many more that I have jumped over here.

Also, if you really mean analogue, and a VFO type scheme, you will have to
look at the older used stuff. This may even take you back to tube systems.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, I still regularly use a lot of
Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, and Collins gear myself.

On the other hand, if you tell us what you want to get from this unit, I bet
the group can make a more informed suggestion.

C!