Reciever Shootout. Non pro edition

[hank_612]

I have a antenna switch and over the past month I have pitted almost all my radios against each other to see who can pull out a station the best. I know this is not scientific in any way and is only really usable as conversation. All the the radios I tested are stock except the 959 which had the custom cb radio receive upgrade when I bought it. I will note that while not the best performer on the list the grant xl is the nicest sounding on the stock speaker and the two external speakers I use. For the test I just used a texas ranger external speaker that is chrome and weighs a ton, I dont know the model. On testing done on ssb. Ok here goes

1.Icom IC7000 (not fair probably but relevent)
2a. Pres lincoln
2b. 2600
3. Cobra 2000 GTL
4.Grant XL
5. 148 GTL (philly)
6.Grant LT
7. Galaxy 959
8. Teaberry Stalker XX export
9. 4 button uniden Grant
10. Grant export
11. Ranger 2970 n2(not my own)
12. Cobra 200 gtl DX
13. 3 button pres grant 858
14. Galaxy 99v
15.Teaberry stalker xx

Try not to flame, I am not knocking any radio or making any bold claims. I am just sharing how things work for me on my gainmaster and using lmr 400 coax on my jestream PS.

[Californi420]

Is this just the radio list or the ranking order from best to worst?

[hank_612]

Good point, it is the best to worst. My bad

[str8stroke]

Interesting. Kinda how I would have ranked them with out testing.

Ok, so did you do these all the same day and same time? I know its hard to say there are alot of variables here. I have had conditions change in town over a few minutes, but still kinda cool to see.

[MDYoungblood]

What radio were you testing them against? It is hard to judge not knowing the conditions of the radios, who or how many fingers have been in them, if they have ever been aligned, and day to day differences in receive signals. Don't get me wrong, it was a good test.

3's

Greg

[hank_612]

I tested them against each other. 10 at a time on a ten pos switch. All were stock unmodified accept the 959. The only mods would be conversions. You can tell very quickly that some of them dont hear well. The diff between the 7000 and everything else was very noticeable. The Lincoln and 2600 can pick up stations others completely miss also. After that the 8719 radios were hard to discern. It was just something I did for my own benefit to take the guess work out of what to use regularly. I still prefer the audio out of the 8719 radios. I have a 3 pos switch now connected to the 7000, grant xl and the 99v. I use the grant for ssb on cb freqs and the 99v for am. The 7000 I use for 10 12 15 17 20 meter with a tuner.

[Deleted User 14541]

Does either the 2000,grant or 148 have the schottky diode mod? It seems to really help the rx but ive never done a side by side comparison to see if it actually improves the signal strength too.

[hank_612]

Nope. All are stock. I have a grant XL and Lt at a custom shop in az that specialises in uniden radios getting a mess of upgrades including the receive sections. I will test them vs their stock counterparts when they get back in a couple of months.

[Deleted User 14541]

Cool. This is a good thread, thank you.

[peterwo2e]

hello.
i just want to point out i own a icom 7000 and a browning mk3. so i'm able to comparen the two receivers with the same antenna and living in NYC i get lots of garbage on my reciver. and i could say for sure my browning has a better receiver than my 7000 not by much! also fair to say browning had some great engeneers working on their units. drake from drake radios was among those guys.

[gunner57]

Though the hard core "theory" guys may pick apart your test, I like reading it and find it very useful. I often want to test my radios too, but never seem to find the time. I have an idea of how it would turn out, but it is nice to see the written results. I remember doing a test of co-phased antennas vs. using one of them. My results were different than what they were supposed to be and all the "theory guys" tried picking everything apart. It was as controlled as could be and the results were the results. Don't let the nay sayers pick your test or your results apart. We all know there is no written in stone, down to a science in this hobby. There are too many variables. So adding even small pieces to a big puzzle will still help us see a bigger picture of a general rule of thumb.

['Doc]

That test was 'subjective' not 'objective'. But unless you happen to have tons of test equipment laying around, it's about as good as the average person could do it. That's not a criticism by the way. It's how most people do it comparing radios.
It's also subjective in that your ears are never going to be the same as mine, or what's his name's. So, what sounds/seems like a better sounding radio to you is more of that 'subjective' thingy, 'preferences'. Have you ever sat down in front of a radio and NOT fiddled with it a little bit? I haven't and sometimes I'd'a been a lot better off leaving the @#$ thing alone.
I think you did just what you set out to do, so your testing was good...
- 'Doc

[hank_612]

That test was 'subjective' not 'objective'. But unless you happen to have tons of test equipment laying around, it's about as good as the average person could do it. That's not a criticism by the way. It's how most people do it comparing radios.
It's also subjective in that your ears are never going to be the same as mine, or what's his name's. So, what sounds/seems like a better sounding radio to you is more of that 'subjective' thingy, 'preferences'. Have you ever sat down in front of a radio and NOT fiddled with it a little bit? I haven't and sometimes I'd'a been a lot better off leaving the @#$ thing alone.
I think you did just what you set out to do, so your testing was good...
- 'Doc

thanks