Jeff, the 902DM was once considered a "SuperRig" or "Contester
Quality", the exact memory of what was stated in the ads of the time
escape me now.
As far as a comparison to the 530 and 830, I have never had one of
these rigs, although I do have a lot of Collins, Hallicrafters,
Hammarlund, Swan, Drake, Yaesu, TenTec and National rigs, I have
never owned a Kenwood HF transceiver.
I do have a couple of friends that have 830's and they both have had
"cold solder" joint problems over the years and from talking to a
former tech, this can be a problem in the Kenwood radios.
Neither he nor I have heard of this problem in the 902DM's.
The Kenwood "twins" were pretty good radios, I had a set of the first
variant, but they just didn't do anything for me, they weren't bad
radios, but a buddy wanted them more then me, so I sold them to him
after owning them for about a year.
That's about all I can answer comparing the 902DM to the 530, 830,
and 599 series of Kenwoods.
I do know that the 902 (after I experimented with FET's in the mixer
and RF amp sections) received nearly as well as my FT990 and OMNI-V,
but as far as IMD, blocking, or any of the other measured performance
parameters of the modified vs. the stock 902DM, I can't say...I never
measured, only listened.
The 902DM was a great rig and never messed up on me, even though I
got it from a guy who wasn't a ham in a trade deal, and one I
wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for a rig of this
class.
Rick Blank, KI5SL
rblank@txdirect.net
AMSAT NA# 26195
San Antonio, Texas
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