While the Rohde & Schwarz stuff is legendary (there is also the EK11-10
which has USB/LSB operation), it is also difficult to service and hard
to find.

This cannot be said of the R390A, but just in case, you might get two
of them and then be able to troubleshoot (and keep it up and running)
by swapping modules. The rx has the added advantage of having a large
devoted following, with ensuing mailing lists, documentation,
availability of tubes and spares, friendly help, etc. And then add the
Sherwood Engineering SE-3 Synchronous Detector to it for great SSB and
general listening pleasure.

It would also be good at handling transient peaks, as well as stable
enough to run RTTY and other utility modes.

My 0.10 Euro...

Best,

Clemens S.Ostergaard
Aarhus, Denmark

PS: Of course there is also the robust Chinese tube receiver 339 from
1976, being offered NOS over ebay, and getting a good review in E-ham.

And the Eddystone 880/2 is a superior tube receiver, which is so
intensely screened and doublescreened that nothing gets in (or out)
except through mains and antenna.


Meir Ben-Dror wrote:
On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 01:54:11 -0500, C. J. Clegg wrote:


Looking for the best all-tube general-coverage (0.5-30) receiver I can
get.

Need good operation on SSB and CW and capability on AM, along with
sensitivity, stability, ruggedness, and availability of replacement parts
e.g. tubes (that last one might be difficult...).

I'm thinking Collins 51Jx or R-390, although I remember that I really
liked an old Hammarlund I had once...

Would like to stay under $1000 but if I had to I suppose I could go as
high as $2000 for something that's really mint.

What do you guys recommend I look for?

I have 2 in mind: the Rohde & Schwartz EK-07 - It works great on SSB as
well, but R & S made a sideband adaptor for it, and the Siemens E311,
which has a built-in product detector and selectable sidebands. It is the
last generation of high-end professional receivers with tubes.
The EK-07 outperforms the R-390A, but it's more complicated to service.
The Racal RA-17 or RA-117 are not bad, but not as good as the first two I
mentioned.

73, Meir WF2U