Well, at least the new radio gives us something to talk about. But there are no
perfect radios, and this one appears to be another radio that will need a PHD
to operate. That is, a Post Hole Digger .
Actually, a perfect radio would be one that requres the least thought and the
fewest physical actions to operate to its fullest capability. Therefore a
perfect radio would have a means to select a frequency, a volume control, and
possibly a mode selector. And given sufficently intelligent design two of those
could be eliminated.
Everything else - such as bandwidth, RF gain, autonotch, noise eliminator,
etc., etc., would be transparently optimized in the radio without operator
intervention. And of course, the limiting factor in receiver sensitivity would
be the noise floor for the frequency/mode in use at a given time.
Hallicrafters built the closest thing to a perfect radio that's been out yet.
The S-38. Of course, besides lousy performance, it had a band selector switch,
BFO switch, and other things that kept it from being perfect. But it was easy
to operate to its fullest capability.
Looking at the downloaded FT9000 brochure - the new Yaesu is going to require a
LOT of operator intervention to obtain optimum performance. So I suspect the
operator is going to have to work like a post hole digger getting paid by the
hole to use the beast to its potential. Or to anything close to its potential.
And if the physical size of the case can in any way be described as compact,
all those tiny buttons and knobs will require a lot of physical dexterity to
manipulate. I don't know if my creaky carcass is ready for that.
73 Pete Allen AC5E
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