Check out some of N2IC's 3830 scores from a few years back to see what a
590 is capable of. The 590's are decent contest rigs and give me maybe 90%
of what the better rigs can do. In my opinion, most contesters wouldn't see
enough improvement in their scores to warrant the extra cost for a better
radio.
My XYL bought me a 590S for my birthday many years ago. I've since added a
590SG. I've used better rigs in contests including a K4D, K3S, K3, Orion
I/II's and Flex's. I'd rather have one of those, but have been doing
reasonably well in contests with my two older model 590's (an SG and an S)
so haven't yet felt the need to upgrade.
Hierro wrote "... but lacks band scope."
It requires cash outlay for an external Airspy or RSP SDR unit, but don't
let the lack of a band scope stop you from buying a 590. It's pretty easy
to add one if you're willing to accept the 3dB loss using one gives. For
me, the advantages to using a band scope, particularly with N1MM, far
outweigh the 3 dB gain loss.
The 590SG "mod" is super easy to do since you just connect a cable from the
transverter out to the external SDR. There is a setting to disable the
transverter and feed the antenna signal to an external unit. There are a
couple ways to do a 590S mod. I chose the simple way and pulled an internal
connector, connected a pigtail to it and ran it through a gap in the 590S
casing. Some say to use a buffer amp between rig and SDR, but many don't.
YMMV, I don't use a buffer and haven't had problems in the several years
since adding the mod.
Kevan N4XL
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