frank bechdoldt wrote:
> I would pick the ft 920 over the ic 746, I have had both. .... Id go
> with a ft 847 over both of them.
>
While it's a very capable rig, the FT-847 left a nasty taste in my mouth
when it came to 6 meter contest performance. LOTS of debilitating side
splatter didn't show up on the TS-690S we had on hand as a back-up
6-meter radio. It quickly became the main rig during the openings, and
we took the 50-watt hit in power for better ears. When the band thinned
out a bit, the 847 did OK.
It should be noted however, that the '847 we operated had no filters...
just the cheesy AF DSP. And, in uncrowded band conditions down in the
valley, it seemed to do OK on 6. Haven't run it contest-wise on the
other bands... though for SSB/CW satellite operation, it seems to do
OK. I would imagine with a good set of outboard RX preamps, a good TX
amp, it would make a fine radio for V/U work.
On HF, the front end was REALLY hammered during contest, to the point of
painful operation. CW was nearly impossible on a busy band due to the
AGC pumping from adjacent stations. Again, I'm blaming my dislike of
the radio mostly on the lack of filters... thus I'd highly recommend
them if one plans on purchasing one of these radios.
On 6, my old TenTec 1209 xverter into (of all things) an old IC-251A
seems to be a really hot combo for the price -- I don't dare publicly
claim it to be better than a new 756Pro or anything of that tier of
radios though. No PBT, or narrow CW, though... and I'm in year 2 of
collecting junk parts to homebrew a meager >250W power amp to help that
blazing 8 watts make some more S-meters move. On that note, if anyone
has a beloved hollow-state design they'd like to share.... ;)
73,
- Josh, KF4YLM
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