Carl has written, in part:
> The rx340 is a better SWL receiver than the Orion....
> If you want ultimate ham band operation, the Orion has
> a much better close in dynamic range. But I have found the
> rx340 to be an excellent ham band receiver.
> The bottom line is if you are going to do a lot more SWL'ing
> than hamming, get the rx340. Otherwise get the Orion.
However, it might be an idea to have both!!
I have had my 340 for a few months more than one year now,
and had told Ten Tec I was going to trade it in toward an Orion.
After several weeks, I changed my mind, hi. I had used the
340 teamed with a Pegasus as my primary rig for the better
part of 2002, all neatly held together via Carl's software.
I did turn in the Peg already against my now on order Orion.
And am still using the 340 and it is still being controlled by
Carl's software in "RX-340 Only" mode.
Carl has already listed some of the reasons for the 340. To
that I should add (he didn't) that he plans software which
will integrate the 340 with the Orion!! The 340 will actually
be the primary sub-rcvr via Carl's coming software, with
VFO B being the sub rig xmit'er source. As Carl has already
found, the DSP filters of the 340 are a bit more sharp than
those of the Orion in bandwidths from a couple hundred
Hz up to 1 kHz or so. As such, the 340 will be excellent
for finding the DX most recent listening frequency up in the
responding chaos! In Carl's comment above about the
close-in dynamic range of the Orion, that is for the main
rcvr; the 340 rcvr is clearly better than the Orion sub rcvr.
You might be shocked to learn that the 1.2kHz DSP filter
within the 340 is excellent for use in separating out tightly
spaced SSB signals!! The audio BW is constrained, of
course, but perfectly copiable!
Actually, it seems to me, that for those of you over on the
US mainland and who live in communities/regional areas
in which several other hams will possibly be responding to
DX operating split mode, that the 340 would be a better subrcvr
than that within the Orion; why, because it has a much higher
intercept point than the Orion subrcvr and thus you will find searching
about in the DX listening area to be easier as there will be
fewer intermod products from your nearby buddies' powerful
calling signals.
Now owning both an Orion and an RX-340 is rather rich! But
how much other cash have you put into your station over the
years?? Yes, I no longer calculate, covers too many decades,
since 1950, of hamming, and now I am too old to really care!
Final comment: Carl's 340 software has a huge data base
of broadcast stations of interest to SWL enthusiasts, and it
is a snap to add any more you might wish; no limit other than
your computer disk HD capacity, hi.
73, Jim KH7M
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