> Provided courtesy of Kevin Schanilec, my accomplice in serious > Ultralight DXing crime, this transparent little ancestor of the SRF-59 was actually > designed for prison inmates...
> If you would like one of these little jewels, you will need to take > your chances on eBay, because they are currently no longer in production. But > if you can track one down, I assure you that your efforts will be deeply > rewarded-- the SRF-39FP not only has a much larger tuning thumb wheel than the > SRF-59 (making the analog tuning actually fun, at least for this fanatic), but > also has an excellent alignment quality control record (my unit was > competitive with a fully aligned SRF-59 right out of the box, and every other SRF-39FP > I have heard of was also very sensitive as received). The Chinese factory > which manufactured the SRF-39FP's apparently was a model for quality control, > and the current SRF-59 factory QC managers deserve indictment for negligence, > by comparison. > > The SRF-39FP (FP means "For Prison") is a true status symbol for the > ultimate SRF-59 fanatic, and as you log your TP's, TA's and other exotic DX in > the future, you'll be ready for the slammer, on the charge of having way too > much DXing pleasure! I got one of these little fellows a few days ago, through eBay, as a result of a posting here saying just a few were left. It was about $15 + shipping. It seems to live up to the hype. I can actually find space between domestic channels, and it has good sensitivity and pretty good nulling. I was getting WDBO Orlando 580 last night coming past my strong local on 570, mixing with a LA with romantic ballads, possibly HIAF up briefly though I think they should have been off by then. On some sets here, 580 is hard to work with any usable signal. It tunes very similarly to the way my old Radioshack TRF 12-655 behaved, as I recall it. But the absence of a usable dial scale is somewhat annoying. The thickness of the dial pointer is much greater than the spread on the dial of adjacent stations. If there was a way to add a LCD freq readout, this would be awesome. I know it reaches 518 as I was hearing "thumping" from the AM-mode demodulation of NavTex, and it sounded centered, not on "edge". I haven't tried to see how high it tunes yet. Mine came in a cardboard carton with a Koss earbud headset, but no instruction book. It would have been interesting to read, though I suppose, short on any real detail. Obviously it is transparent to alleviate the hiding of contraband. It'll be handy for sniffing around to find local noise sources. Do I get the record for logging the most distant insulator arcing? hi - Bob _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
