Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike

I know that computer-based radios have their advantages. But I like to have
a separate piece of hardware as my radio.

If you have, say, an ICF2010 (or 2001D in my case), then you've probably had
it quite some years. My point is, if I buy a "traditional" radio, then I
don't necessarily see any "end-of-life" for it - I'll keep it until it
doesn't work any more and can't be fixed.

With a Winradio, I wonder for how many years will it correctly interface
with my PC? In five years, will its interface be an "old" standard,
rendering it a redundant device, even though there's nothing wrong with it?
And what of the accompanying PC software? What happens when you finally
trade in your PC (which you'd probably do more often than upgrading your
radio)? Will the latest, greatest (i.e. this month's!) PC and OS still run
your software and talk to your Winradio?

Also, doesn't conjur up the same atmosphere of sitting in the shack, lights
down low, struggling to see the keyboard and mouse (you've got arthritis
remember, so maybe the vision is fading too!) to tune in that DX signal.

Just my thoughts!

Mark.


"m II" wrote in message
news:t06Xc.44065$S55.34787@clgrps12...
Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 19:46:33 GMT, m II
wrote:

Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike

You can purchase software along with the 313 that allows you to
control and listen to it over the web. You can be in a hotel or
coffee shop thousands of miles away and have your R8 equivalent with
you. Something to consider.

Regards DA

Here's a *possible* solution: buy an AOR AR7030 Plus receiver from one
of the shops in England in conjunction with Richard Hillier at AOR UK
(he can make recommendations to you based on your requirements and
will contact the shop of your choice to have the radio specially made
up and shipped to you). Then contact Jan Arkesteijn and download
RxWings (you can e-mail him and get the latest version). You will then
have a superlative receiver which can be used as a stand-alone radio,
a radio controlled by a remote-control device, and a
computer-controlled radio. Should computer standards change in a
number of years, well, you'll still have the stand-alone radio. You
can have your cake and eat it too! (The AR7030 is AT LEAST as good as
the Drake; frankly, I think it's much more versatile and better.) By
the way, Jan's computer control program RxWings is totally FREE!

Joe

P.S. You can tell your wife that this will be the VERY LAST short-wave
radio you'll ever need to buy. If you're lucky, she MAY even believe
you!

m II wrote in message news:t06Xc.44065$S55.34787@clgrps12...
Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike

Some very interesting points Mark. I upgraded my PC many times and, you're
right, things that worked no longer work. Yet my old Icom 745 (near 20 years
old) transceiver works just fine. I purchased new radios since then, but the
old Icom keeps on cranking and competes with all of them.

I am considering one of the WinRadio items, but you shed interesting light
on it. Thanks.

Al KA5JGV
San Antonio, Tx.



"Mark" wrote in message
news:1093474503.331387@ftpsrv1...
I know that computer-based radios have their advantages. But I like to
have
a separate piece of hardware as my radio.
With a Winradio, I wonder for how many years will it correctly interface
with my PC? In five years, will its interface be an "old" standard,
rendering it a redundant device, even though there's nothing wrong with
it?
And what of the accompanying PC software? What happens when you finally
trade in your PC (which you'd probably do more often than upgrading your
radio)? Will the latest, greatest (i.e. this month's!) PC and OS still run
your software and talk to your Winradio?
Mark.

Joe Analssandrini wrote:

Here's a *possible* solution: buy an AOR AR7030 Plus receiver from one
of the shops in England in conjunction with Richard Hillier at AOR UK
(he can make recommendations to you based on your requirements and
will contact the shop of your choice to have the radio specially made
up and shipped to you). Then contact Jan Arkesteijn and download
RxWings (you can e-mail him and get the latest version). You will then
have a superlative receiver which can be used as a stand-alone radio,
a radio controlled by a remote-control device, and a
computer-controlled radio. Should computer standards change in a
number of years, well, you'll still have the stand-alone radio. You
can have your cake and eat it too! (The AR7030 is AT LEAST as good as
the Drake; frankly, I think it's much more versatile and better.) By
the way, Jan's computer control program RxWings is totally FREE!

Joe

P.S. You can tell your wife that this will be the VERY LAST short-wave
radio you'll ever need to buy. If you're lucky, she MAY even believe
you!


The 7030+ is a nice radio, but it's also likely to be several hundred dollars higher than an R8b when equipped with a noise blanker and a couple of high end filters.

On the winradio - my greatest concern is the internal ones.

There are a fair number of people using classic radios that were state of the art 30-50 years ago, and they still work well.

But odds are 30 years from now you won't want to be using the same computer, and newer ones aren't likely to be using PCI cards.

But odds are, no matter what happens with the design of internal cards on a PC, there will be some way of hooking up an RS232 port, so if you have an external winradio, you'll probably still be able to control it.

Software should be less of a problem - I'm pretty sure you can still get emulator software to allow your windoze PC to run 25 year old CP/M software.

"Mark S. Holden" wrote:

Joe Analssandrini wrote:

Here's a *possible* solution: buy an AOR AR7030 Plus receiver from one
of the shops in England in conjunction with Richard Hillier at AOR UK
(he can make recommendations to you based on your requirements and
will contact the shop of your choice to have the radio specially made
up and shipped to you). Then contact Jan Arkesteijn and download
RxWings (you can e-mail him and get the latest version). You will then
have a superlative receiver which can be used as a stand-alone radio,
a radio controlled by a remote-control device, and a
computer-controlled radio. Should computer standards change in a
number of years, well, you'll still have the stand-alone radio. You
can have your cake and eat it too! (The AR7030 is AT LEAST as good as
the Drake; frankly, I think it's much more versatile and better.) By
the way, Jan's computer control program RxWings is totally FREE!

Joe

P.S. You can tell your wife that this will be the VERY LAST short-wave
radio you'll ever need to buy. If you're lucky, she MAY even believe
you!


The 7030+ is a nice radio, but it's also likely to be several hundred dollars higher than an R8b when equipped with a noise blanker and a couple of high end filters.

On the winradio - my greatest concern is the internal ones.

There are a fair number of people using classic radios that were state of the art 30-50 years ago, and they still work well.

But odds are 30 years from now you won't want to be using the same computer, and newer ones aren't likely to be using PCI cards.

But odds are, no matter what happens with the design of internal cards on a PC, there will be some way of hooking up an RS232 port, so if you have an external winradio, you'll probably still be able to control it.

Software should be less of a problem - I'm pretty sure you can still get emulator software to allow your windoze PC to run 25 year old CP/M software.

Isn't the 7030+ discontinued? Universal shows it to be so.

dxAce

In article ,
says...
Here's a *possible* solution: buy an AOR AR7030 Plus receiver from one
of the shops in England in conjunction with Richard Hillier at AOR UK
(he can make recommendations to you based on your requirements and
will contact the shop of your choice to have the radio specially made
up and shipped to you). Then contact Jan Arkesteijn and download
RxWings (you can e-mail him and get the latest version). You will then
have a superlative receiver which can be used as a stand-alone radio,
a radio controlled by a remote-control device, and a
computer-controlled radio. Should computer standards change in a
number of years, well, you'll still have the stand-alone radio. You
can have your cake and eat it too! (The AR7030 is AT LEAST as good as
the Drake; frankly, I think it's much more versatile and better.) By
the way, Jan's computer control program RxWings is totally FREE!

Joe

P.S. You can tell your wife that this will be the VERY LAST short-wave
radio you'll ever need to buy. If you're lucky, she MAY even believe
you!

m II wrote in message news:t06Xc.44065$S55.34787@clgrps12...
Ok..this is all in the imaginary 'Wish List' category..


An elderly aunt has died and left you a small sum of money(1).

You need another radio, (I know, I know) just to round out things a bit.
The Drake R8b has excellent specs, as does the Winradio 313i. You
suspect that you'll be getting arthritis in the tuning hand in the next
few years, so manual control of the set isn't that important. Function,
sensitivity and dependability is EVERYTHING.

Which of the two radios would provide a better fit for those
requirements? With the 180 Mhz extension and the 10Mhz module, the
Winradio would cost almost the same as a Drake.


So, as the cost is the same, which is the best radio?


I would have to give some thought as to waterproofing either setup, as
it may see a lot of use in the back yard when I'm locked out of the
house by one of those non-understanding types whose main purpose in life
seems to be questioning the value of radios


(1) In dxAce's case, his bail bondsman




mike


I would have to agree, the 7030 is a much better performer than a Drake
R8x, but I really hate the ergonomics of the thing. I don't like the
looks or operation of the Drake's either, but it's not as annoying to me
as the 7030's is. They both need to look at a JRC receiver, just about
any model, for hints in the ergonomics category.

Between the control layout, and looks of the Drake R8 series, I have
passed on buying one over the years. That, and the general feel and
looks of cheapness (Sorry R8x Fans) turns me off. Again, look at JRC for
help there. Made in USA is one thing, but it's actually "ASSEMBLED in
the USA", as about every part in it is imported.

I would have like to snatch up the really nice R7A I saw a couple of
years ago, it's a great receiver, but probably the most annoying to
operate one I have ever used..

BDK

dxAce wrote:
snip
Isn't the 7030+ discontinued? Universal shows it to be so.

dxAce

The radio hasn't been discontinued, but they've stopped importing them to the USA.

"Mark S. Holden" wrote:

dxAce wrote:
snip
Isn't the 7030+ discontinued? Universal shows it to be so.

dxAce

The radio hasn't been discontinued, but they've stopped importing them to the USA.

I wonder what the reasoning for that was? Universal still carries other AOR products,
at least according to their catalog.

dxAce