Almost any receiver can "front end" another. Points of concern are
overloading the second receiver input and impacting the performance of the
first receiver by tapping off the signal either at the wrong point or in
the wrong manner.
I have things arranged with my K2/PRO combination such that the K2 and PRO
S meters read almost exactly the same, for example, on a given signal.
Various tests showed no observable change in K2 performance by making the
signals taps.
The worst combination would be excessive capacitive loading or otherwise
compromising the operation of the stage where the tap is made on the first
receiver, and passing too much signal to the second receiver to the extent
that its AGC is required to really clamp down on its gain. On the other
hand, excessive gain in the second receiver can degrade the performance of
the combination.
This is not a simple subject to discuss as there are many considerations
involved, most of which depend directly upon the characteristics of the two
radios. I was impressed that Eric Swartz of Elecraft, one of the two owners
and designers, urged me to continue with these experiments and to share the
results. If I can ever find an hour of my own, I will prepare a detailed
writeup and post it here as well as on the Elecraft reflector.
73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas
In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
K2 #489 Icom IC-765 #2349 Icom IC-756 PRO #2121
Gary Hoffman wrote:
>
> Along with this thread... I imagine that the same thing would work with
> my Corsair in front of my Pegasus ???\
>
> Cool.
>
> 73 de Gary, AA2IZ
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