Hi Rick, I had a SW8 & would not recommend it for FM. Selectivity is not all that it could be & no RDS. It is a good unit on other bands but I started to have a problem with part of a digit disappearing. It also quit working on batteries.
My favorite overall for FM DX is the new Sangean CL-100 FM/MW/WX table radio about 7" long by 5" deep by 2" high. Comes with AC adapter & can use 4 AA. No signal strength indicator & a 2 second mute changing frequencies, but excellent performance with RBDS & DSP. I paid about $66 (from Amazon). Receives adjacent to non-IBOC FM locals. Amazon has easy returns but this radio has 4 or 5 star ratings from everyone on there. The CL-100 comes with a magnetic mount antenna that plugs into RCA jack, at the end of a 6' cable. AM ant & ground screws. MW is good but only 10 kHz steps & seems only a single selectivity. Gets adjacent to locals. Has 3" speaker, 1 watt amplifier, bass & treble controls, external antenna connections. Gets a fairly decent signal from your local 590 all day with internal antenna. For pocket radio, I use the Tecsun PL-310. FM performance like Sangean but no RDS. Does have LW (poor) MW/SW OK with selectivities of 12/8/6/4/2 kHz. Numerical signal strength reading. Only about $60 from Ms. Joyce (anon-co on eBay) & she checks them before shipping in case the factory let a lemon go out. Volume is jumpy on weak fady signals. Got unreadable audio on MW f/W Eu, NW Afr & Japan. The Kenwood R-5000 I read has internal temperature of 114 degrees, don't know if that's cause for worry. I only had the R-1000 & don't recall it getting hot. The Sony tuner also runs hot. Reviews online of many radios. eham.net is pretty good for that & Amazon for current models. The very new Sangean ATS-909X might be excellent ($260). I expect online reviews to be appearing in the next week or two. 73, George S., MN --- On Mon, 2/28/11, Rick Dau <drummer1965...@yahoo.com> wrote: > From: Rick Dau <drummer1965...@yahoo.com> > Subject: [IRCA] Kenwood R-5000 vs. Drake SW-8: Image rejection, sensitivity, > and selectivity factors > To: irca@hard-core-dx.com, a...@nrcdxas.org, a...@yahoogroups.com > Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 10:23 AM > As you can probably surmise by the > subject line, I'm doing some comparison > shopping. My 2010 is dying (it's practically useless on > LW and SW now, and it's > always been so on FM), and I've narrowed my preference for > my next set-up to two > options: > > > a) the Kenwood R-5000 + an FM tuner to be named later > > b) the Drake SW-8 > > Would like to find out from people who own either of these > receivers how they > perform, and I'm especially interested in how the SW-8 does > on the FM side (if > I'd be better off with a tuner, I'll go that route, but I > would be quite happy > if I could get a LW/MW/SW desktop that also has exceptional > FM reception so that > I don't have to pony up more $$$ for something that'll > take up more space). And > as far the the image rejection, the sensitivity, and the > selectivity go, I want > to know how both radios do in these areas on ALL bands. > > > 73, > Rick Dau > South Omaha, NE > > > > > _______________________________________________ > IRCA mailing list > IRCA@hard-core-dx.com > 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com > > _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
