Japan Radio Co.
David William
Thanks
David
David William
I made a mistake and posted twice. Please disregard this one.
David
BluesDog1
This is the most enjoyable radio I have ever used- Kenwood, Drake, Sony
included!
Comments?
David William
I'm hope you have read the IBS Whitepaper regarding the 525, which includes the story of their 515 that took a direct hit by lightning. Burned the case, but it's still working today. That convinced me that JRC make good products. On another "sour" note. Every report I have ever read about JRC always notes the poor audio quality. I have not used a Drake R8, the reviewer's darling, so I can't make a direct comparison, but is it that much better. I have a Kiwa 8kHz filter in the aux. position which gives great sound on stations in the clear, Radio Exterior de España being my favorite. It has been my experience that strong signals give good audio and weak signals give poor audio.
Hear comes the boss! Looking especially foreward to hearing from a NRD 73 owner.
Death to fluorescents, dimmers, etc.
David in Sacramento.
Az0th
: I'm hope you have read the IBS Whitepaper regarding the 525, which includes
: the story of their 515 that took a direct hit by lightning. Burned the
: case, but it's still working today. That convinced me that JRC make good
: products. On another "sour" note. Every report I have ever read about
: JRC always notes the poor audio quality. I have not used a Drake R8, the
: reviewer's darling, so I can't make a direct comparison, but is it that
: much better.
I _loves_ my 515! From a recent note to a friend:
...
I've got both, 515 & 525, and I can tell you that the 515 is built like
a tank by comparison. I paid about the same for each, and I'm pretty
sure the 515 was the better deal, although the 525 has some useful
features missing in the 515: notch filter, tone control, mucho better
dual-width noise blanker, clock/timer, scan/sweep, FM and squelch,
synchro-phase AM detector for workable ECSS, computer control, dual
speed tuning and slewing, calibrated RIT. Even so, the 515 is more
fun to use (I've got the memory unit and keypad, so I'm not _totally_
roughing it) because aspects of its ergonomics are vastly superior to
everything else I have (except a R-390A/URR): the controls are single
function, VERY clearly marked, large and smoooooth in operation, like
proper mil-spec controls; the S-meter is large, legible and responsive;
the switches (mini metal bat-handle toggles) have the correct 'thunk'
when flipped; the freq readout digits are big enough to read from
across the room... Even the memory unit (somebody in the literature
called it 'clunky') is a pleasure: pushbutton select the 1-of-4 bank
you want, then twist one knob for 1-of-24 channels, just like an old
TV. I've got a bunch of 75m nets in one bank, and I swear sometimes
it's just like tuning across a bunch of mid-60's sit-coms....
Oh, yeah: the 515 receives pretty good too. };-] And even the audio
quality isn't bad since I disabled the lowpass section in front of
the AF chip.
The 505 is even more rudimentary, feature-wise, but I'm reliably
told that it's even better built than the 515. I'll find one, one
of these days, and maybe the xyl will even lend me the money to
buy it, like she did the 515 twins.
...
Cheers es 73
RF Buchanan
P Lannuier
Despite working for JRC for several years, I never owned a '515 - was
always waiting for "the" '515 to come along, unmodified, clean, etc.
Finally found one last winter and am in love! I have owned the '525, and
also have a '505 (no, its not for sale, R.F.!) and a couple of NRD-535s,
plus the JST-245 transceiver, so I have no shortage of JRC rigs to play
with when I get 3 minutes of free time (increasingly rare). But I have to
say the '515 is the first radio I switch on when I sit down in the shack
to play. Maybe it's psychological, 'cause the '515 was always a dream
radio for me when I was young and poor.
I installed a couple of Kiwa filters, a 3.5 kHz and and 7.5 kHz, so the
thing is pretty much rigged for broadcast DX. I find it to work extremely
well on MW, since there is *NO* internal hash, which is the main problem
with the '525, '535, '135, etc., because of their vacuum fluorescent
displays. Future plans include a Sherwood SE-3 and the audio mod that RF
Buchanan was kind enough to send me.
The '515 gets my vote for best receiver ever (at least in the under-$1000
bracket).
Best 73!
Paul Lannuier
President
Gilfer Shortwave
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Tom Crosbie
plan...@aol.com "P Lannuier" writes:
> But I have to say the '515 is the first radio I switch on when I sit down in the shack
> to play. Maybe it's psychological, 'cause the '515 was always a dream
> radio for me when I was young and poor.
Whenever a used NRD515 turns up here, we ask potential owners to form a polite
queue -They are still sought after even today and we maintain a waiting list.
Don't know about you Paul, but we find our JRC customers rather become
collectors. They want the new gear but rarely trade-in the old one!
-
Tom Crosbie (Lowe Electronics, Paul!)
David William
and the review in Passport, but I would like to hear from some owners. I am a JRC fan,
and "525" owner. I have enjoyed the on-going converstion that has begun regarding JRC.
I hope that the company realizes that they have a passionate core of owners.
Finally, does anyone know if Eska & Edvis still offer their IR and synch mods and if they
are a worthy upgrade?
David Williams
>
Az0th
I heard P Lannuier (plan...@aol.com) say:
: Finally found one last winter and am in love! I have owned the '525, and
: also have a '505 (no, its not for sale, R.F.!) and a couple of NRD-535s,
Well.... That's OK. My NSD-515D isn't for sale, either. ;-) Until I get my
ticket, all I can use it for is an external 2nd VFO for the NRD-515, but
that's pretty handy sometimes. This only works on the ham bands, though,
or at least on the MHz ranges containing ham bands, including WARC: 1,
3, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28, 29. Within a band, either the Rx or Tx
can determine the frequency of itself and/or the other unit. Pretty
neat arrangement. I leave the Tx Mhz control slaved to the Rx, which I'd
guess would be normal unless you were working cross-band (OSCAR?)
Point of interest: although the NSD-515 looks the same on the outside as
the NRD-515 (same heavy-duty cabinet and front panel, same colors, much
the same panel layout, same LED readouts, same high-quality controls),
inside the NSD-515 uses plug-in modules like the '525, although the
shielding is much heavier guage metal than the '525 uses. Rock solid.
I understand that the '505 uses the same modular construction. Last
time I had it open, I also noticed that the two boards that contain the
antenna tuner (automatically switched presets for each band, not autotuning)
are joined by _wooden_ standoffs. Looks like Japanese maple. ;-)
: The '515 gets my vote for best receiver ever (at least in the under-$1000
: bracket).
If the sky should fall and I had to sell off my radios (20 or so, including
transmitters) the 515's would be the last to go, no doubt about it.
I'm still wondering: after JRC introduced the NRD0515/NSD-515 twins in
the early 80's, did _anybody_ else develope separate Tx/Rx rigs? Even
for QRP, transceivers have been the rule for quite a while. For that
matter, did anybody else do a completely solid-state Tx/Rx pair? I'm
not familiar enough with amateur gear sold in the late 70's/early '80's
timeframe to know for sure, but I'm thinking the answer is probably
no to both. All my other separates (Drake and Hallicrafters) are mostly
hollow-state, except for a mutant R-4C that uses dirty-sand replacements
for all the firebottles. Even the last Kenwood separates had tube finals
as I recall. Were the '515 twins the first/last of the breed?
David William
Recently, I purchased a pair of JRC headphones. When I plugged them in
to my 525 there was no sound. When I removed the plug there was no
sound from the speaker either. The lights were on, but that was it.
I took the radio to my local hang out, The Radio Place, here in Sacramento, CA.
There were a number of customers there who gathered around to see what I
had brought in. I was of course subjected to some kidding about my broken
"reliable" JRC. The running commentary began consisting of how
their ICOM/Drake/Yaesu/Kenwood was a much better radio for the price.
However, the technician disaasembled the radio completely in minutes,
the first time he had ever opened one, and found the earring my three year
old had inserted in the jack and we had it allback together in another few
minutes. Problem solved.
This demonstration of JRC construction quality quieted down the critics.
Are there any other stories out there?
Still looking for a NRD 93 ownwer.
**Now for my trouble making...
After reading the endless thread on the Drake R8, I would like some input
comparing the R8 and various JRC radios.
David Williams
Paul Lannuier
>
>I'm still wondering: after JRC introduced the NRD0515/NSD-515 twins in
>the early 80's, did _anybody_ else develope separate Tx/Rx rigs? Even
>for QRP, transceivers have been the rule for quite a while. For that
>matter, did anybody else do a completely solid-state Tx/Rx pair? I'm
>not familiar enough with amateur gear sold in the late 70's/early '80's
>timeframe to know for sure, but I'm thinking the answer is probably
>no to both. All my other separates (Drake and Hallicrafters) are mostly
>hollow-state, except for a mutant R-4C that uses dirty-sand replacements
>for all the firebottles. Even the last Kenwood separates had tube finals
>as I recall. Were the '515 twins the first/last of the breed?
>
ting that anyone still made separates that late in the game, but that probably stems JRC's backgound in marine communications, where=
separate transmitters and receivers are the norm (the amateur radio division was an offshoot of JRC's Marine Engineering Dept.).
Best 73,
ptl
Az0th
: >I'm still wondering: after JRC introduced the NRD0515/NSD-515 twins in
: >the early 80's, did _anybody_ else develope separate Tx/Rx rigs? Even
...
: >for all the firebottles. Even the last Kenwood separates had tube finals
: >as I recall. Were the '515 twins the first/last of the breed?
: Yeah, pretty much so. The 515 pair was superceded by the JST-100
: transceiver, also a gem if you can find one with low miles. Interesting
: that anyone still made separates that late in the game, but that probably
Interesting. The oldest JRC transceiver I remember reading about is (I
think) the JST-145, the stylistic match of the NRD-525 Rx. QST was less
than enthralled, since the more interesting receiver performance tests
were noise limited (flourescent display noise, synth. phase noise.) The
515 twins were better received, and the test results, especially of the
transmitter, were outstanding.
The NSD-515 is curious in another respect, as well: it uses negative-going
ALC, like the old tube rigs, and unlike the positive-going ALC of most
solid-state transceivers.
One more little note, and I'll shut up. Using the NSD-515 as an external VFO
for the NRD-515 is perfectly intuitive, except for one little thing: the
MW preselector is switched in based on the setting of the receiver dial
_only_, so if the NRD says 1 MHz, for example, the preselector is active
regardless of any external input from the NSD, say 1.85 MHz. If you don't
know that, you can easily think somebody disconnected the antenna, since
the NRD-515 preselector is very, very effective.
Paul Lannuier
>Interesting. The oldest JRC transceiver I remember reading about is (I
>think) the JST-145, the stylistic match of the NRD-525 Rx. QST was less
>than enthralled, since the more interesting receiver performance tests
>were noise limited (flourescent display noise, synth. phase noise.) The
>515 twins were better received, and the test results, especially of the
>transmitter, were outstanding.
That was the JST-135 transceiver (the JST-145 is one of the new models).
Actually, before that there was then JST-100, JST-110 and JST-125!
Best 73!
Paul Lannuier
President
Gilfer Shortwave
----------------------------------------------------------
GILFER SHORTWAVE | Tech & NJ: (201) 391-7887
52 Park Avenue | Orders/Quotes: (800) GILFER-1
Park Ridge, NJ 07656 | Facsimile: (201) 391-7433
United States of America | Internet: gilf...@aol.com
| http://www.pics.com/gilfer
----------------------------------------------------------
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GRUNDIG SONY JAPAN RADIO CO KENWOOD ICOM YAESU
LOWE RF SYSTEMS JPS COMMUNICATIONS WATKINS-JOHNSON
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Az0th
: >Interesting. The oldest JRC transceiver I remember reading about is (I
: >think) the JST-145, the stylistic match of the NRD-525 Rx. QST was less
: That was the JST-135 transceiver (the JST-145 is one of the new models).
: Actually, before that there was then JST-100, JST-110 and JST-125!
Aha! OK, so the JST-135 looks like an NRD-525, and a JST-145 looks a lot
like the NRD-535, and I would expect that each borrows somewhat from the
generational internals. Does any of the JST-100/110/125 gear resemble,
externally or internally the NRD/NSD-515 series? Did rich Americans buy
them?
Johnny Donovan WABC-NY
filter is a bit sharp
any one know where I can get a 2.7kc filter for it?