Vince wondered,
> Is it practical to consider using an RX 340 with my Omni 6 +?
> Is the gain in receiving worth the investment?
Complex question. Carl, N4PY does not have software to
integrate these two rigs as he does for the Pegasus/340 pair;
that seems that it might be a liability, but maybe not if you like
to turn a lot of knobs, hi.
Now the question, "is the gain".....? Gain in what???
I believe the "most" gain would be from a "stronger" front end
in the rcvr over the Omni. And that benefit would probably
be only really useful if you are into contesting, and have
"big gun" stations near by, or are trying to work on bands
with a huge number of other contesters at the same time,
which is probably always during the CQ and ARRL events, hi.
Sensitivity, that is the noise floor, is probably equivalent for
equivalent IF bandwidths from the two radios. However, the
340 offers a lot more IF bandwidth selections, and the skirts
are significantly steeper, again a big help in contest situations,
or working a weak DX signal when a stronger signal shows
up all of a sudden near by....as in a huge pile up operation
while the Dx is operating split mode and the "cops" show up
on/near the DX frequecny.
Other "gains": general coverage, AM mode of recv, but
no NR button! The DSP within the 340 is not at present
set up for noise reduction (which in the Omni VI+ seems
to cause a CW tone "peaking" sensation, of sorts along
with a noticable noise reduction). And frquency coverage
down into the kHz spectrum region, should that interest you.
The sychronized AM rcv mode is super for international
broadcast listening, if you are into SWL listening or DX'ing
as some are.
I would believe it would be best for you to somehow get to
where you could use a 340 for a time. You are welcome
to come out here to Kauai and try mine for a day or two!
I sold my VI+ to raise some of the funds to buy my new
Pegasus/340/N4PY software system, so I cannot offer
a side-by-side performance comparison report. I must say
I am really impressed with the DSP filter performance of
the 340; certainly superior even to the INRAD filters with
which every slot in VI+ was filled. A fellow in Utah now
has that radio with every slot set up with INRAD. However,
there may not be "that" many QSO's where the delta in
filter performance is "really" going to cause a make/break
QSO result, but don't really know, hi.
73, Jim KH7M
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