got my R8B about a year ago and i think it is great radio, but as one guy
already said it has a cheap plastic tuning knob, and the metal cabinet seams
to be made out of tin cans (very thin). i have a yaesu VR-5000 and it is an
ok radio but the drake is much better. i had an R8 for about 3 months and
did some side by side comparisons with the R8B. the R8B is abit better than
the plain R8 but i don't think it is allot better.
i did have a watkins johnson HF-1000, now it was abit better than the drake
but not $5000.00 bucks better and there is allot of knob fiddling to get the
most out of this radio.
the other thing to remember is before you upgrade your radio take a good
look at you antenna system. i did some simple improvements to mine and it
made a big difference.
hope this helps

chuck



"JIAW" wrote in message
news:sSUPb.26884$ii6.16525@okepread05...
I've only been SWLing for about 3 years so take my opinion FWIW.

I bought my Drake R8B after having been somewhat disappointed with the
Icom
R-75. I bought the R8B after reading the glowing reviews PTWBR has given
it
over the years and after researching this newsgroup. I finally got it
about
3 months ago, and I love it. I have it hooked up to a Logitech speaker
system with a subwoofer and program listening is a joy. All of the
features
of the receiver which are designed to flush out weak signals really do
make
a difference. It really is a full-featured unit. The one thing I don't
like about it is the build quality and the plastic tuning knob (which I
replaced). Ergonomics are fine, but it just looks and feels...well...I
don't want to say cheap, because that's not the right word...but for $1500
I
personally feel that the receiver just doesn't look/feel like it had that
kind of pricetag attached to it. For instance, I almost went with a
JRC-NRD545. That thing looks fantastic and is built like a tank at $1700
w/DSP. In the end, I bought into the hype of the Drake and I'm glad I
did.
It was worth every penny.

"WetOne" wrote in message
om...
Contemplating possible purchase of this unit. Been SWL'ing 35 plus
years and currently use as my main receiver a Lowe HF-150, which I
will never part with. Of course there are some things I don't like
about it. I have researched the R8-B over the years, and I may me
ready to strike. Tell me owners, what are your gripes and dilikes with
it? I pretty much listen to programs (love the 150's audio) but I also
do a lot of utility stuff. I am kinda interested in loading up the
Drake with a boat load of usb utility freq.'s and scanning. I would
like to pump the audio into a 900Mhz. transmitter, pull it up on my
scanner (icom R-2) and go about my work. I do this with the 150 when
more than SWL'ing needs to get done. Of course there nothing like
sittin down and twiddlin knobs.(What do I know about knob twiddlin, I
have a 150). looking foward to your comments.

John