Well, I understand the similarities, having owned both, but
believe me, they ARE NOT the same receivers. There are a
number of major changes which have a pronounced effect on
the operation, and even tho the heterodyne scheme remains
the same, not many of the boards are interchangeable. And
I think that puts them into a completely separate catagory.
Number one, the receiver end to end gain has changed by a
large amount. DSP has been introduced. Software/Firmware
control is new. Local Clock oscillator is now oven controlled.
The band heterodyne oscillator is now phase locked to a high
accuracy clock, etc, etc,... In addition, all of the "birdie"
problems accompanying the five have been addressed (thru software, I
believe). I know that Ten-Tec will tell you that the receivers are
basically the same, but if you put both on the bench, run them
thru their paces, and plot the results, you don't see a heck of
a lot of similarities.
By the way - don't let me tell you all the changes are positive,
because there are areas where the Five out shines the Six, but
in most cases the Six is preferred.
-Del, KL7HF
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