I would suggest watching/reading, and studying the videos and PowerPoint
presentations archived at Contest University's website, paying particular
attention to those by Rob, NC0B. It is time WELL spent, even if (Maybe
ESPECIALLY if!!) you are NOT a contester. I would also suggest viewing the
presentation by Adam Farson, VA7OJ/AB4OJ given at Friedrichshafen just a few
short months ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kescw0V4rk
Me thinks ALL of the mid-to-upper-tier receivers made today, are capable of
performance better than most of us can, or need to, use. Me also thinks it's
time to start putting the pressure on some of these manufacturers to start
worrying more about their TRANSMITTERS. Food for thought: Imagine how nice the
bands would be if EVERY SSB signal was using Pre-Distortion (ANAN has Pure
Signal NOW). And NO CW transmitter was spewing out wide band trash and key
clicks. Your IC-718 receiver would probably be "good enough!"!!! (No disrespect
meant, the "IC-718" here can be replaced with several low-budget rigs from
several Mfg's, or any of the legacy down conversion rigs from 30 years ago.)
Any way, it sure is fun to be on this ride...... I think it will someday be
compared to the old Ancient Modulation Vs. Slop Bucket wars!
I am finding it hard to know when/where to jump into the SDR transceiver
fray..... Prices are being forced down, and technology is changing FAST on some
of the open source code. I bought an SDRplay, and have had a TON of fun with
it, so I am seriously considering the next level. It still hurts to think
about my 40" LCD, 60Hz, 720P Samsung "dumb" TV that I paid over $1700 for in
2007, but our old TV died, and we jumped in where we thought appropriate. (It
still works perfectly, but draws 3 times the energy of our 60" TV that cost 25%
of that $1700!!)
I wouldn't want to be in Mr. Dishop's shoes in this market, but do hope he
comes up with a "winner" the first time around!!! Long Live TenTec!
73, Greg, KC8HXO
SNIPPED SNIPPED SNIPPED
IMO there is no longer any easy way to rank them based on one or two
specifications alone.
Too many factors affect SDR receiver performance.
I am in favor of removing all SDR radios from the list and placing them in a
separate list, but I have no idea how we should do this.
My best guess would be to use NPR testing such as Adam Farson is conducting.
See: http://www.ab4oj.com/test/docs/npr_test.pdf
Adam has two lists, one for traditional heterodyning radios and another for
SDR radios.
But this is not perfect either.
As you see, the 7300 tops the list and as we all know, it has overload
problems due primarily to improper gain distribution throughout its front
end stages. Adam, Rob, and every test review I have read point out its
overload problem.
Note that the two ANANs are ranked above the 6700, even though they do not
have dedicated BPF's for each ham band.
I'm not sure how Adam is ranking the SDR radios. It is not only NPR
figures.
At this point we are way outside (above) my pay grade. I have no idea other
than to put these radios in the hands of contesters and let them report on
their experience.
In summary, we have come a long ways since first reporting on IP3 in the
1970s.
We cannot compare SDR radios to heterodyning radios based on their IP3 or
DR3 results.
At this point in time, I am not aware of any agreed method of testing and
reporting performance levels of SDR radios.
There are ongoing discussions between Rob, Adam, Bob Allison (ARRL) and Ken
(ex Ten-Tec president) on how to do this.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, this new technology has brought us great improvements in
performance and as we will soon see, at an affordable price.
The 7300 was just the beginning.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
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