Yaesu FRG-7 Shortwave Ham Radio Receiver **CLASSIC** Start Price USD 9.99 Current Price USD 264.99 Time Left - Bid Count 30 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 16, 2008 End Time Sunday, November 23, 2008 Location Lamar, Pennsylvania See more about 'Yaesu FRG-7 Shortwave Ham Radio Receiver **CLASSIC**' Description This FRG-7 was purchased to offer to the Ebay community.  It has been had been fully detail cleaned and cared for as I try to do with most of the receivers that I sell.  In addition, the receiver did not work when it came into my hands.  After a trip to the local repair shop, the unit has been repaired and all the contacts cleaned so that everything now works beautifully on this unit.  Part of this repair included replacing 2 burned out lamps and I go into a little detail about this below.   At this point, this FRG-7 works as good as any I have tested.  Reception is strong and weak signals are easily captured.  The unit works well electronically and seems to be sensitive across the full spectrum of frequencies from the AM band on up through the shortwave bands. I have taken several pictures to let you see what you may be bidding on.  This is not a mint receiver as it has a few scratches and a number engraved on the bottom edge, but certainly is in decent condition.   You can see from the variety of pictures what to expect if you are the winning bidder.    This FRG-7 comes with a copy of the owner's manual and I am including a pdf copy of the manual on CD along with service notes and alignment information to keep this receiver operating at it's peak for many years to come.     For those of you who are not familiar, let me tell you what makes this receiver so special.  The circuitry was developed by Dr. Trevor Wadley and later employed by Yaesu in this FRG-7.  The shortwave recievers of the day were not very stable and typically there was a certain amount of drift when tuned in to a station.  You can imagine how annoying or even frustrating this can be to have to retune the circuit from time to time, especially on military frequencies or weak signals.  Anyway, Dr. Wadley invented a drift cancelling loop that used triple conversion circuitry to achieve it's goals. This was a leap forward in receiver technology and for about 25 years, this was considered state of the art technology. So advanced was this technology when applied to the FRG-7, that it allowed the user to zero into a frequency within 5 or 10khz.  In today's digital readout technology standard, this may not seem like a real feat, but back then, this was considered outstanding. You can read a brief bio of Dr. Wadely here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Wadley Or a discription in detail of the famed "Wadley Loop" here: http://www.qsl.net/vk3jeg/b_wadley.html Another thing accomplished by the FRG-7 receiver is that it is highly sensitive...even by today's standards.  Back in the 1970's when I was a lad in my teenage years, I used a Drake SPR-4 receiver for my listening before attending college.  With that receiver, a special antenna, and some perserverence, I heard many remote foreign and even domestic stations.  I can recall awaking one Monday morning and tuning in to KFI on 640khz when smaller stations were off the air for the weekly maintenance and was able to copy news from an AM station in Los Angeles despite being situationed on the east coast.  I notified the station and subsequently received a QSL card verifying my reception.  At the time, I belonged to a shortwave listening club called SPEEDX and received all their monthly mailings. These mailings were essentially reception reports of various shortwave stations...many that were elusive or even intermittent.  Anyway, the FRG-7 was always the most heavily used receiver of the time for DX reporting.  It is a hands down DX machine that may not offer all the bells and whistles of today's receivers, but it does it's job well. The FRG-7 was a true user's machine receiving heavy use and typically being toted around....often to remote locations for listening.  Another thing to note with these receivers is that they used a special bulb in the various dial lamps.  There are at least 6 of these lamps total in the FRG-7 as they are utilized in the preselector for band selections and also in the main tuning dial to illuminate the frequency.  Anyway, when they burn out, they are difficult to replace without a qualified person doing the modification.  All of the bulbs light and are bright.      Another nice feature about the FRG-7 was that it operated on either house AC or DC current.  For remote use, there is an input jack in the back to connect to a 12 volt source or a battery holder for regular cells.  You would install 8 D cells in the holder, secure them with the velcro fasteners, and then slide the holder into the FRG-7 on it's retaining rail.  This FRG-7 can then be transported to a remote listening site, a camp area, or a variety of other locations for DX listening.  In remote listening, the user will need to string an external wire antenna for reception as this FRG-7 does not have an onboard antenna.  This is easy to do and the wire can be of virtually any reasonable width and length.  As you can see, the battery holder is both present and in excellent condition showing no signs of corrosion.  The batteries will operate for a long time in this FRG-7 without the use of the dial lights.  Yaesu understood this energy preservation issue and therefore designed the circuit with a switch on the front to turn these lamps off after station tuning. The FRG-7 has many nice features and I won't list them here as you can look at my pictures for this information.  The coverage is for 500kzh to 29900khz and thus it covers the AM, Ham, Marine, Shortwave and CB bands.  Sideband reception allows you to listen in on ham radio operators, marine transmissions, or aeronautical or marine weather.    All of the knobs, switches and dials work properly and this FRG-7 is in good physical condition and superb operational condition.     This receiver is still considered one of the finest receivers made and rates highly among collectors, dxers and shortwave enthusiasts in general. Here are some reviews and additional notes: http://www.dxing.com/rx/frg7.htm On the eHam website, you will note that the FRG-7 still rates a total of 4.8 out of a possible 5.  This is amazing for a receiver that is now about 30 years old.  Here is the eHam review: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/979 And finally, here are some circuitry details, schematics, alignment info, and user manual (you really should have a manual to operate this receiver)  A user manual will be is included with this auction: http://www.crocuta.com/FRG7/index.html Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read through this auction writeup.  I am happy to answer any questions you may have concerning the FRG-7.  Pickups are welcome, but if this is not possible, I will plan to ship the unit to you and cost for this shipping will be determined by the shipping calculator at the bottom.  This price includes all packing materials for a safe trip.  Insurance is included in the shipping and will be based on the final selling price.  These prices are for CONUS only so if living in another country, you will need to email me for a price quote for shipping.  I regularly ship overseas and have good experience in doing so. Winning bidder is expected to pay for the FRG-7 within 10 days of being invoiced and may use either cash (upon pickup), check or MO.  I generally ship the next business day after receiving payment, but will need to allow personal checks to clear first.  Due to the extra seller fees, it is best for me to not accept Paypal, but I will do so if the buyer prefers.   Penna residents are reminded that I report my sales to the state authorities and so you will need to be responsible for the 6% state sales tax.  Thank you once again for taking the time out of a busy day to look at this auction. Place a Bid!