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For those who might be considering the Palstar R30 as a future purchase, I just got a new one from the factory and thought I would pass along three changes you will likely not see in any of product descriptions, reviews, or web sights, including Palstar's own. Even the User Manual that came with mine did not reflect these changes.
As suggested by Gerry Thomas after his review of the R30 years ago upon its introduction, the Up-Down tuning buttons now step at 1/2MHz versus the original 1MHz. I did not remember to make a special request when I ordered, as Gerry had suggested, so this is how they come normally now, it would seem.
The switch to apply 12v to the antenna coax connector to power an external antenna tuner has been eliminated. The description of this feature -- still in the manual -- includes warnings about potential for damage if used incorrectly, which may explain why it is no longer there. Palstar's own antenna tuner was probably about the only device that used the feature anyway. I know it could have played havoc with my powered active antennas if misused. Now I don't have to worry about it.
The third change is the addition of an external connector to the IF 455kHz. Seems I have seen some devices that connect this way but never really paid that much attention. Guess I'll have to now.
Of these, the tuning button rate seems most significant. At 1MHz one press and you're out of the LW or MW bands. With the 500kHz rate, you can now use the buttons to go back and forth from bottom to top of those bands. It makes moving from LW to 20MHz slower, but even twenty pushes at the old rate would soon convince me to set a memory position to make those kind of moves, rather than using the tuning buttons.
These are all obvious external or operational changes. I am sure there have been many improvements in the internals of the radio as well over the years, but for that, someone who knows what they're doing will have to dissect one.
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