I will try to provide broad price ranges, but take these with a grain of salt, as collecting the older receivers has become quite popular lately, and prices have risen as a result. The rating criteria will be based primarily on usability, not collecting value. This compendium will be highly personal and subjective, but I hope to point out particular features that may make one unit more attractive than another. That’s why there may seem to be an excess emphasis in this review of the tuning resolution of particular receivers. Accurate and precise frequency readout is something that we now take for granted with PLL frequency synthesis and digital readouts, but it wasn’t always this way. The one main caveat concerning some of the older units are the poor frequency resolution of the dials. Either type can serve well as a second receiver for band-scanning, DX station spotting or, especially in the case of the tube units, program listening.
The later solid-state receivers are an excellent step-up from portables for the frugal hobbyist or newcomer. Older receivers have a lot going for them–the older tube units may represent a nostalgic return to our youth for the older listener or may be an introduction to older technology and operating techniques for the younger ones. Since there is currently a seeming dearth of new receivers and equipment to review (although it appears that the new AOR-7030 has been released in the European market) and since Spring is just around the corner, I thought that I would step back in time and take a look at receivers that may be appearing at hamfests and swapmeets near you in the coming months.
Equipment Reviews, March 1996 A Hamfest Shopping Guide
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