R7000.3

     Using the internal, top-mounted speaker, the R7000  has
     good audio power and fidelity, better than my R71A.

     The user manual is generally good, and a  schematic  is
     furnished.   Some broken English makes it unclear as to
     whether  the  R7000  battery  backed  up  RAM  contains
     firmware as in the R71A.

     There are provisions for  activating  a  tape  recorder
     when  a  signal  is  received,  but  there is about a 1
     second delay in activation,  causing  the  recorder  to
     miss  the start of the transmission.  I may replace the
     capacitor in that relay circuit when I get the nerve to
     open the cabinet for the first time.

     Another relay is used to switch  in  some  filters  for
     reception  above 512 MHz, so one hears the relay click-
     ing while scanning a mixture of low and  high  frequen-
     cies, a bit unnerving.

     There's a lot of fun to be had with the R7000.  It  was
     interesting  tuning through the link and paging signals
     in the 72-76 MHz band, and listening to  military  air-
     craft in the 200-400 MHz band.

     My UHF antenna system consists of a government  surplus
     FAA  discone,  good  for coverage between 150-1200 MHz.
     Although not as good as a Butternut SC3000  antenna  in
     the 150-174 and 440-512 MHz ranges, the discone has the
     edge in the 225-400 and 512-1200 MHz bands.   At  these
     frequencies, a low loss feedline is very important, and
     I use a Belden 9913 clone made  by  International  Wire
     and Cable.