Well,my brother is trading a used Maco 5/8 ground plane for it. I did talk on the air with the guy that owns the Saturn 35 miles away. The modulation is cranked up. My brother knows radios and trading.They're a bit drifty on SSB, but if you turn it on and wait about 20 minutes for it to "warm-up" it's a good radio. Just make sure there hasn't been a "Golden Screwdriver" hack in it pulling out all the modulation limiters, etc. if you plan on using it on SSB. Ask to have the top cover pulled if possible.
Good luck!
~Cheers~
I wonder why? I bet the CRE-8900 doesn't. I was on ssb all afternoon yesterday and into last night on my 959 after getting it back from getting aligned. It would stay on frequency and then it would move. Now that is annoying! My next radio will be the CRE-8900.Drifts more than a Swan 500 on SSB!! But what export radio doesn't drift on SSB????
I'll second that (what camaro1 says), namely that the anytone5555 does not have drift issues. I've found it to be very reliable on ssb and it does not have to be on for twenty minutes or so. Its stable from switch on to switch off. The CRE-8900 is basically the same design but as I don't own one of those I can't comment on whether or not it has any drift issues.
I say buy the saturn if you want it. A local had one with distorted ssb transmit and he was perpetually off frequency but if you can get a tech to repair it and unlock the clarifier then you should go for it. I consider them to be better than the rci2950 as they had 10 meter spurs on transmit and other issues and also better receiver than the ham jumbo. You can always make it in to a turbo model by fitting a 2 pill inside.
They don't all drift my 2950dx and S45HP work SSB all day without a tune![]()