Watkins Johnson 8711 vs Ten Tec 340 Shootout!

[@myradiovideos]

Nice work, AGAIN!!! Great Video as always!!! The limitation if any is that the manufacturers only had a limited high end transistors or integrated circuits.. Today everyone has gone to a DSP technology or a hybrid approach. I learned when dealing with fiber optic lasers that they all had a limited capability, technology limited. We could only go 10 KM with 1330 NM lasers and 15 km with 1550 NM lasers. Then came DWDM so we could then send over 100 thousand telephone calls over a single fiber between San Diego and Las Vegas!! What comes after DSP is unknown... My Flex radio has only Average A to D components, but some military grade parts cost $15,000.00 WOW!! But those radios wont be on the market for 10-20 years and cost us folks still thousands of $$$$.. BUT!!!! Listening to both radios the listening quality is still very poor... OK in an emergency but not for general listening.. The TenTec audio is the best, engineering design and component... BUT, the best part is the FUN FACTOR and with both radios they get 100%! Again think how far we have come from the tube days, but the R-390 was a superior design and very quiet. The Navy sent me to A school to fix them, we had a dozen on the USS Ticonderoga Air Craft Carrier.. Once I tuned one to a Hawaiian AM station while at sea, and broadcast the signal over the ship TV cable system, channel 3. Then I got chewed out for playing a Beatles Song, "Back to the USSR!!! LOL, he said stop that Russian propaganda!!! Crazy, just a song, but it was 1970! In 1972 I went into the Cable TV Industry, and after 47 years retired... Now more time to play with ham radio!! Robert WA6PHN

[@dieselten01]

Thanks Robert

[@IZ0MTW]

Hey Nick, 2:10 actually I agree with WJ designers do disable the preamp. ABSOLUTELY no need for preamp on such low frequencies. Not even on HF specturm in fact unless you’re using a very small and ineffective antenna. As a rule of thumb leave it no preamp. When you connect or switch the antenna in line if you’re getting an increase in audible noise floor then no further amplification is needed. In fact you only get worse performance form your receiver if you do switch it in. Bye Nick and happy Christmas! Diego

[@dieselten01]

Thanks for your comments and Merry Christmas!!

[@dxhunter01]

Nice comparising. In my ears they sound both great. Wish I never sold the TT rx340. Thanks.

[@dieselten01]

Thanks Hans

[@mattottie6410]

Both sound good, and yes wish yaesu would add extra filtering to AM mode, still a very good receiver, thx. Matt

[@wa4aos]

Hi Nick, I noticed on both your RX340 and the WJ, you have the AGC set to slow. You might want to set that for fast, especially for weak CW signals. This will help the receiver pull up the signals when they fade. Medium and Slow AGC are better for SSB and AM broadcast. One note. This is NOT in the manual, as far as I know, but on your RC340, if you hold down your setup key on the panel normally not illuminated, and turn the knob just to the right, memory, you can turn the display brightness up and down. I keep mine at ~30% to help the display to last longer. No replacements. I really enjoy your channel and the shootouts you do with various receivers. You have a collection of some of the best receivers ever made and it's a hoot to watch you run them. I am surprised you are not a Ham op. you certainly have enough really nice equipment to make most Hams salivate. LOL WE have another common interest in firearms. I guess you are watching what CA is trying to do with gun control. Even requiring, soon, a FFL person to handle firearm sells. I dont want to mention politics except to say, I am not happy with whats going on now. You must really feel the pressure in TX of all of the illegals crossing the border everyday. Take care, Glenn

[@dieselten01]

Hi Glenn, i will experiment with the agc speed thx for the recommendation. As far as being a ham, i only like to listen. I already set my 340 brightness level, I am like you, keep it low to extend screen life. Cali is f’d up. You should move over here to free America!

[@Mach7RadioIntercepts]

Great video! I remember reading about thosr receivers in the WRTH and elsewhere when they came out. Nice to see them stacked in your video. Can you run your audio from them to a mixer & patch it into your video? That would sound much better for us viewers, as acoustic coupling is not so good.

[@dieselten01]

Unfortunately I do not have that equipment. The way I typically run these comparisons is what I call a true street race. Run what you brung. My comparisons are not about the ultimate specs in laboratory conditions. They are about what a user would experience when they plug it in and turn it on. Lab specs are out there, this is all about real world experience. Thank you for your comments. If you are not aware, I have a truck load of these comparisons on my channel from all kinds of older premium sets.

[@myradiovideos]

YES!!! That was me going through your garbage can at 3am!! Darn, still did not find the 890S???? What is going on?? OK, yes the 890S is on par to the 8600... Mine is here at the QTH... Robert

[@zappatx]

I think I'll just stick with the Hammarlund 170. Thanks for the video test!

[@ianwilliams5915]

Thank for this comparison. What do you not like about your Yaesu? - it’s currently top of their line all be it a transceiver too. The lack of bandwidth control on AM is which bothers me. There are not many alternatives however that you can easily purchase. The Icom 8600 sounds a bit thin to me and too many menus.

[@dieselten01]

It is a great ham radio, maybe the best. But I am very disappointed that they neutered the radio while in AM mode. Almost all of the cool functions for listening enhancement are deactivated in AM. I also have a Yaesu 5000 and they did not neuter it in AM. So I am just jaded I guess

[@germibestia]

@@dieselten01two different kind of equipment. Ham radio transceiver are not meant to be used for listening to broadcast stations. They show horrendous performances in AM, with no sync, and like my FTDX10 locked into 12 kHz bandwidth! On the other hand, those old professional receivers were meant to be used in monitoring stations. Which have very efficient antennas and no noise, since they are set up where there is no noise. Thus lacking features like noise reduction and even a decent noise blanker. Nowadays things have radically changed. The monitoring stations use only SDR receivers, which have all sort of filters and signal/voice enabling capabilities. A single person operate dozens of digital receivers. Much less nice to look at compared to the old stations, but way more efficient and delivering much better performances.

[@Alan-Dawson]

Now, years ago I had a Realistic 160B I could hear everything on a long wire...Now I hear nothing on a GRV5 half-wave. To be honest I think a lot of modern tech Led lights etc Is killing HF it was noise before but now Its crazy.

[@dieselten01]

My best reception experiences are during power blackouts. I have a video using an Icom 705 during a power outage. The noise floor is very low

[@JacobNewmen]

Hi, thanks for the great video, I would like to see how these professional receivers work compared to HAM TCVR, for example Yaesu FTDX 10 or Icom 705. Will you do some comparisons? thank you, Jakub OK1TCM, 73!!

[@dieselten01]

Jacob, look through my video library. I have a boat load of videos with many comparisons of dozens of radios

[@JacobNewmen]

@@dieselten01 thnx

[@jeffreydechellis]

What types of antennas were you using for these fine assed rigs! 😉

[@dieselten01]

Both on the same Wellbrook loop, fed through a multicoupler

[@user-lu1sx2sp5s]

340 filter off, 8711 filter on ??????

[@istein2]

HARRIS 505A & preamp manual =$100.EBAY 11-25-22 TODAY FIRST day listing

[@dieselten01]

Thanks for thinking of me Arnold!

[@kiatsakdina8397]

Ten Tec340 to better high sensitivity all band

[@dieselten01]

Thank you for your comments

[@antennebuis]

Are there a BFO on both ?

[@dieselten01]

Yes. During the video I specifically mention the bfo settings for both