Best ssb receiver ?

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Oscarpop

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I know it's been done before, but technology has moved on a bit in the last year.

We are going to buy an ssb receiver, to receive weather forecasts that we can download to a laptop.

Any recommendations?

Ideally it will be a battery operated unit that has a 12v supply.

It will allow the attachment of an external antenna as well as the ability to connect to. A pc.

Many thanks
 
The NASA target HF3 is a very good little radio for what you need, I have used the portable SSB multiband varieties but have found them more difficult to tune and hold station. We had reliable reception on an atlantic circuit, but it is common not to get good reception in marinas or close to land/other vessels as interference can blank out the signals with background noise. You'll also have to make sure you switch off other electronics/electrics to get the clearest signal. The laptop is often a source of noise so I ran the single wire antenae in (earthed shield) coax to the back of the boat then a single wire up around the backstay (not connected to it)
 
Search for Ed Beynons topic on this.
I bought the same Degens unit he has. It is comprehensively equipped with all he add ons, and was not a fortune.
 
Degen DE1103. Costs about £40, I've measured the sensitivity to be higher than others costing £250.
 
st599 said:
Degen DE1103. Costs about £40, I've measured the sensitivity to be higher than others costing £250.
Click to expand...

I think mine must be faulty or something then, or I live in an area of exceptionally high interference. I bought it based on similar recommendations, but get not a sausage of interesting reception. I think the only things I have picked up on it are broadcast stations and, very weakly, the navigation beacon for Southampton airport which is just down the road.

Pete
 
Tha NASA Target is good. Don't get too hung up on sensitivity - while it is certainly important, selectivity is at least as important - arguably more so. Within reason, you can cure a deaf radio with a bigger antenna, but there is nothing you can do about one that is as wide open as a barn door. Sensitivity is easy - selectivity is expensive to implement. There are plenty of cheap radios around doing SSB with very high sensitivities, but they will often have ridiculously poor selectivities. A professional grade receiver will offer selectivity down to a few hundred Hz.

3kHz is not bad, but many of the cheap receivers will be struggling to manage 10kHz. This leavs you wide open to interference and all that high sensitivity just makes it worse by flooding the signal you want with all sorts of rubbish from round the world.
 
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