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Good evening, everyone. 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:47.439 This is HamTalk Live. episode number 29 picking 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:51.599 the best receiver to work with the expeditions 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.959 Rob Sherwood nc0b recorded live on Thursday September 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:02.640 1st 2016 I'm your host Neil Rapp WB9 PPG thanks 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.219 for tuning in to this episode of ham talk live 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.759 tonight we'll be joined by the top authority 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:12.960 on receiver performance Rob Sherwood nc0b from 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.840 Sherwood Engineering and Rob will talk about 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:19.280 his rankings of all the major rigs and how to 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.680 pick the best one for you. We'll talk about that 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.319 and your take your calls live in just a few minutes. 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:30.219 Last week Ward Silver N0AX was here to talk about 00:02:30.219 --> 00:02:34.039 the Yasme Foundation and his Spurious Emissions 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:36.659 Band. We even had a chance to listen to their 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:39.919 cover song cover of the NCJ that's still stuck 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.740 in my head a week later. So if you missed the 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:46.360 show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com. 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.860 You can also listen to the podcast on iTunes, 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:53.479 Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:56.560 YouTube. Get your questions ready to go for Rob 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.319 Sherwood after the introduction. You can call 00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:02.900 us on Skype. 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A flashlight 00:04:18.810 --> 00:04:22.279 is a case for holding dead batteries. Now, here's 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:40.860 Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. Welcome back 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.639 to HamTalk Live, the ham station. As you covered 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:47.560 for both new and used equipment, give Dan or 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:54.009 Jeff a call. at 800 -729 -4373 or go to HamStation 00:04:54.009 --> 00:04:57.930 .com. Be sure to listen to HamTalk Live every 00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:00.370 Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:03.850 here at HamTalkLive .com. And if you missed the 00:05:03.850 --> 00:05:06.290 show, you can download the podcast from the website 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:10.310 and most popular podcasting websites. Rob Sherwood, 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:14.850 NC0B, was first licensed in 1961 with a novice 00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:20.639 license. N8ADB at age 14 in Cincinnati, Ohio. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.259 He upgraded to general class about two months 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:27.379 later and his call sign changed to WA8ADB. He 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:30.540 operated as Portable Zero in the mid 70s out 00:05:30.540 --> 00:05:34.319 of Colorado and now lives there just east of 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:37.399 Fort Collins. He upgraded to Advanced and Extra 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:40.800 in the 80s and obtained his current call sign 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.199 NC0B. In 1974, Rob founded Sherwood Engineering 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.660 offering Drake radio upgrades, which he still 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:52.879 does today. He started testing transceivers in 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:58.199 1976, which now total over 100. That data is 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:01.560 now available online at his website, SherwoodEngineering 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:05.160 .com. You use the first part of Sherwood and 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:08.319 the first part of engineering, so it's S -H -E 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:14.259 -R -W -E -N -G .com. Sherwood Engineering now 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:17.100 offers modifications to many shortwave receivers. 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.779 and is an authorized dealer of Japan radio receivers 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:23.600 and still makes parts and upgrades for the Drake 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:27.800 R4C, including roofing filters, crystals, capacitor 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:30.899 replacement kits, and even owner's manuals. Rob, 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.100 welcome to HamTalk Live. Thank you, Neil. Nice 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:40.680 to be with you. Great to be with you again. I 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:45.610 get to see you at Contest University. last couple 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:48.470 of years anyway and get to hear all about this 00:06:48.470 --> 00:06:52.370 so I thought we would give it a chance for people 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:55.509 to call in and ask some questions and and hear 00:06:55.509 --> 00:06:58.329 a little bit about this in case they they haven't 00:06:58.329 --> 00:07:02.860 had a chance to check that out One note, as far 00:07:02.860 --> 00:07:06.720 as the website, you can also use nc0b .com. It 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.879 goes the same place and may be easier to remember. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.339 That would be a lot easier to remember. So nc0b 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:17.560 .com gets you to the same place. Very good. Well, 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.459 in your laboratory, you've made measurements 00:07:20.459 --> 00:07:23.879 of receivers over the years, and you maintain 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.560 a ranking of most of the popular rigs out there 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.290 on your website. Tell our listeners what this 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:37.050 list should be used for and then also what it 00:07:37.050 --> 00:07:43.910 shouldn't be used for. Well it lists many parameters 00:07:43.910 --> 00:07:47.610 of receiver performance and you know sensitivity, 00:07:48.589 --> 00:07:52.050 noise floor which are similar, dynamic range 00:07:52.050 --> 00:07:55.589 which means receiving weak signals surrounded 00:07:55.589 --> 00:07:59.860 by strong signals and things like that but What 00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:08.240 unfortunately happens is we become over We pay 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:10.500 too much attention to like the dynamic range 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:13.600 number Which is how it is sorted you in in that 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.639 order you have to sort a table in some order 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:18.420 So I've had people say well, I've got a radio 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:21.120 that rates a hundred but there's a new radio 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.180 It rates a hundred and two should I sell my hundred? 00:08:25.580 --> 00:08:29.899 Well, that's silliness, of course. So you have 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:32.279 to use some common sense. So you look at the 00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:36.940 big picture, the numbers in performance for, 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:39.240 like you said, a contest or a de -expedition 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:42.259 or something when we've got hundreds if not thousands 00:08:42.259 --> 00:08:46.360 of stations on calling a weak station out in 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:51.120 the Pacific, for instance. You want to have your 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:53.559 receiver good enough to handle what most of your 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:57.960 operating is and don't get get carried away with 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:01.779 with a DB here or there even 10 DB here or there 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:06.419 look at the big picture So these these rankings 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:12.519 that you have While they do rank radios according 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:17.700 to certain performance criteria the differences 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:26.000 those levels are pretty small and most major 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:30.360 transceivers these days have great front ends 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:36.539 anyway. Is that fair to say? Well let's say when 00:09:36.539 --> 00:09:40.080 I started doing this the numbers were much lower 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:44.480 in the key figure for a contest or a DX pileup 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.759 or something like that were much lower and so 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.399 a difference between a radio that was 70 dB versus 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:57.019 80 was extremely significant and let alone a 00:09:57.019 --> 00:10:01.360 radio that maybe came out 10 years ago that was 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:07.009 60 or 62 but now radios in general moved up so 00:10:07.009 --> 00:10:11.129 if we've got a radio this 90 versus 100 or 100 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:14.710 versus let's say approaching 110 or like 108 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:17.129 which is actually maybe the highest that I've 00:10:17.129 --> 00:10:21.929 measured then they're all good so then we have 00:10:21.929 --> 00:10:25.120 to say well what what do I What modes do I operate? 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:28.799 Do I work CW? Do I work side bin? Do I like a 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:30.679 radio with knobs? Do I like to run it with a 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:34.019 mouse? What's the reliability? How's the receive 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:37.179 audio? How clean's the transmit audio? So we 00:10:37.179 --> 00:10:40.679 really need to weed out the disasters and then 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:44.279 say, Okay, here's my block of transceivers and 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:46.559 I'm going to look at all of these and then pick 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:48.460 something that makes sense and of course price. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:51.580 We've got radios now that are really good from 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:56.360 $1 ,500 to $15 ,000. Well, that's certainly a 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:59.159 range that's staggering. Although if you really 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.220 go back in time and talk about the gold dust 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:04.379 twins, which were Collins radios back in the 00:11:04.379 --> 00:11:08.200 50s, they were by today's standards no more expensive 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:11.610 than some of these astronomical prices. It isn't 00:11:11.610 --> 00:11:14.370 like we've never heard of extremely expensive 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:17.990 radios even in the 50s, but we have to look at 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:22.970 a broad spectrum of issues including price. Yeah, 00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:26.210 so why don't you tell us a little bit about these 00:11:26.210 --> 00:11:30.669 measurements and how you go about obtaining them 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:33.690 and maybe a little bit about what ones are kind 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:37.230 of similar so that way we can kind of know what 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.330 we're looking at on these tables. OK, I've got 00:11:41.330 --> 00:11:45.970 my table up here on another computer. Well, if 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:48.629 you go to my website and you go to the click 00:11:48.629 --> 00:11:50.549 on a little banner goes across and it brings 00:11:50.549 --> 00:11:54.789 up the table. And we've got several parameters 00:11:54.789 --> 00:11:57.009 and the one is the noise floor, which is similar 00:11:57.009 --> 00:11:59.330 to sensitivity. If the noise floor is good, the 00:11:59.330 --> 00:12:01.409 sensitivity is good. Well, everyone wants to 00:12:01.409 --> 00:12:04.789 have a radio that can receive weak signals. So 00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:07.860 that's a number that has significance. But we 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:12.580 have to also realize that on most bands, particularly 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:18.340 the lower bands, band noise is dominant over 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:21.399 receiver noise. But like 10 meters, that's a 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:25.340 different story. It's important to have very 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:30.259 good sensitivity on 10 meters because the band 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:34.000 noise is much less. So. we have to think about 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.679 what bands we're operating. Also, the last six 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.340 years on 10 meters has been phenomenal. And if 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:42.899 you're a contest or just a rag tour, I put up 00:12:42.899 --> 00:12:45.279 a 10 meter tower and a 10 meter Yagi about six 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.720 or seven years ago. Boy, I was just lucky I got 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.100 it up in time. But now we're going down in the 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:53.460 sunspot cycle. So the 10 meter performance relative 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:57.399 to like what's going on in 40 meters will be 00:12:57.399 --> 00:12:59.879 less significant until the next round of sunspots. 00:13:02.070 --> 00:13:04.370 While we're talking about this, we were just 00:13:04.370 --> 00:13:08.450 talking right before the show about the FCC and 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:14.370 how they have established the noise floor. What 00:13:14.370 --> 00:13:17.669 have you seen out of the noise floor over the 00:13:17.669 --> 00:13:21.570 years? What you're referring to is the FCC actually 00:13:21.570 --> 00:13:25.909 asked for documents from industry, from hams 00:13:25.909 --> 00:13:28.409 on what's happened to the general noise floor 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:32.950 of the HF bands. particularly in an urban environment. 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:35.669 And I'd say they've gone up about an S unit, 00:13:35.970 --> 00:13:39.870 about 6 dB every decade. So when I moved to the 00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:45.470 Denver area in 1969, it was pretty quiet, but 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:48.450 it is significantly noisy. And you say plasma 00:13:48.450 --> 00:13:52.490 TVs, switching power supplies, computers, of 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:55.049 course, have switching power supplies, fluorescent 00:13:55.049 --> 00:14:00.139 lights, things like that. There are routers for 00:14:00.139 --> 00:14:01.879 your internet. Everyone's got internet where 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:03.779 your routers put out birdies and things like 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:06.919 that. So the noise level is a significant problem 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:12.379 today, particularly in the city. So this is going 00:14:12.379 --> 00:14:15.840 to give you a rating that's going to help you 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:21.299 fight that a little bit. Well, if you're lucky 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:23.139 enough to live in an urban environment, I mean, 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:25.659 if you're lucky enough to live in a rural environment, 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.470 then you've got a better shot. at hearing weak 00:14:29.470 --> 00:14:32.070 signals on 10 meters, for instance. But if you're 00:14:32.070 --> 00:14:33.929 in the city, it's going to be more difficult. 00:14:35.269 --> 00:14:38.669 So the ranking of the sensitivity, I'll get a 00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:40.549 phone call and someone will say, I want to work 00:14:40.549 --> 00:14:43.789 more DX. What receiver should I purchase today? 00:14:44.370 --> 00:14:47.190 And so unfortunately, if you're living in the 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:51.169 city like I do part of the time, then that noise, 00:14:51.470 --> 00:14:54.330 urban noise level is maybe the most dominant 00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:56.350 thing that limits what you can do. But the other 00:14:56.350 --> 00:15:00.309 thing that's important is your antenna. And we 00:15:00.309 --> 00:15:03.389 want a good receiver, of course, but if you've 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:06.269 got an antenna that's 25 feet off the ground, 00:15:07.110 --> 00:15:11.169 then that's going to be a limit, too. So as we 00:15:11.169 --> 00:15:14.950 chatted earlier, certainly your receiver is important, 00:15:14.950 --> 00:15:17.389 but your antenna is important. Your skill to 00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:20.759 work at the expedition or to work a contest is 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:23.500 important. So all these things are part of the 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:28.360 picture. Okay and let's get back to the chart 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:32.000 too and look at some of these other measurements 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.519 and how you take those. Okay well like if we're 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:38.039 measuring noise floor sensitivity we have a calibrated 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.000 signal generator, we have the receiver, and we 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.539 feed in a signal. So we make that measurement 00:15:44.539 --> 00:15:49.039 and then there's other measurements like Blocking 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.440 so when the radio starts to compress as far as 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:56.080 it it's not linear anymore We measure the front 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.879 end to see well Is it got enough selectivity 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.700 keep another station that's on another band that 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:04.799 might be five miles away out of my radio? The 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.500 filters of course are not Have if do not have 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:12.120 infinite rejection, so we may we measure that 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.659 and then of course what this table is sorted 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:19.299 by in order of performance is one thing, close 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:22.320 in dynamic range. And that again, dynamic range 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.220 means we're trying to work that weak station 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:28.299 and all sorts of strong stations are around it. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.519 Now that ranking is more important for the CW 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.059 operator than for sideband. And you say, well, 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:39.419 why would that be? Well, on sideband, if there's 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:43.149 a station three KCs away or five KCs away, he 00:16:43.149 --> 00:16:45.909 has transmitted splatter products not because 00:16:45.909 --> 00:16:49.490 he's being a bad operator but the amplifier in 00:16:49.490 --> 00:16:53.429 our radio that puts out 100 watts let's say has 00:16:53.429 --> 00:16:56.929 a certain level of distortion so if that distortion 00:16:56.929 --> 00:16:59.269 products that spread out over several kilohertz 00:16:59.269 --> 00:17:03.970 like as much as 10 are the dominant factor well 00:17:03.970 --> 00:17:07.559 then We might not be able to receive that weak 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.059 signal because of a station three or five cases 00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:13.660 away, but on CW Signals are much narrower or 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:15.779 at least they should be they don't have key clicks. 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:19.279 So in that case That's why I say this ranking 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:24.019 was really oriented to CW DXing contesting and 00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:29.920 that's when that number is most important So 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.319 if you got a phone call and somebody said hey 00:17:33.529 --> 00:17:36.109 I want to pick out the best rigged work, let's 00:17:36.109 --> 00:17:40.589 say the Mouve Island, the expedition coming up. 00:17:41.069 --> 00:17:44.650 What are your top two choices or top three choices? 00:17:44.789 --> 00:17:48.049 What are you going to tell them? All right. Well, 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:50.809 I'm going to say don't consider the top two or 00:17:50.809 --> 00:17:53.109 three. Look at the chart and say, well, let's 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:56.109 look at the top 10, maybe the top 15 or even 00:17:56.109 --> 00:17:58.809 20. We have to say what's good enough most of 00:17:58.809 --> 00:18:01.329 the time. Now you could always say I want the 00:18:01.329 --> 00:18:05.059 best one there is, but there's other aspects 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:07.640 of radio performance and what's important to 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.140 you depending on the modes and what maybe how 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:13.839 you're hearing is to me a really clean audio 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:16.039 is important but someone else they don't even 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:19.019 notice distortion and things like that so as 00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:23.279 i mentioned back in the time when the classic 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.900 radios went away your collins and your drake 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:31.660 they had pre -selectors the performance was in 00:18:31.660 --> 00:18:35.119 the 70 dB range, approximately, and then the 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.539 upconversion radios came along, like the TR7 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:40.779 was the first one, that's a Drake, but then your 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:43.440 Kenwoods and your Yezus and all that, everybody 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:46.200 went to a radio that didn't have mechanical things 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.200 like pre -selectors. Of course, what was the 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.599 most amazing pre -selector was the R390A, the 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:54.619 Collins R390A and the spin -offs that were other 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:58.539 OEMs. So that went away with the design changes 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:03.440 as Solid State came in and So we couldn't have 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:05.660 a mobile rig that you could hold in the palm 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:08.440 of your hand with a preselector in it. But then 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:11.519 we had radios that were almost all the same for 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.099 about 20 years. And they really were not adequate 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:18.960 for CW contesting and de -expeditions. They barely 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:21.599 worked for sideband in the crunch conditions. 00:19:22.339 --> 00:19:25.900 And that's when really my chart became significant. 00:19:26.190 --> 00:19:30.130 that in one case I modified a Drake R4C and that 00:19:30.130 --> 00:19:33.049 moved to the top of the chart and then the 10 00:19:33.049 --> 00:19:36.609 tech Orion one came along and that was the first 00:19:36.609 --> 00:19:40.609 solid -state radio that outranked that modified 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:45.210 Drake and Pushed the dynamic range number up 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:49.349 into the 90s. So Really if you've got a radio 00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:53.769 that I always have said 80 to 85 is good enough 00:19:53.769 --> 00:19:55.950 most of the time, but you kind of want a little 00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:58.289 safety factor. So let's say we're going to say, 00:19:58.410 --> 00:20:01.549 I want a 90 dB radio. Well, then you've got a 00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:03.569 wide choice because they've gotten better and 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:07.130 better every year or every, say, few years. And 00:20:07.130 --> 00:20:09.470 so there's a whole slew of radios that are going 00:20:09.470 --> 00:20:12.730 to fit that minimum requirement. And then we 00:20:12.730 --> 00:20:15.690 say, OK, we've got this list now. We're going 00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:20.099 to look at all those other aspects. Very good. 00:20:20.099 --> 00:20:23.619 So it's not just about the rig folks. It's your 00:20:23.619 --> 00:20:28.519 antenna your skill and What your preferences 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:31.259 are and other things like, you know, how clean 00:20:31.259 --> 00:20:34.859 the audio is and the transmitter all those kinds 00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:39.759 of things so lots to consider but If you're going 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:43.259 after receiver performance go over to NC zero 00:20:43.259 --> 00:20:47.470 B calm and take a look at at Rob's numbers and 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:51.210 he's got them all right there. So let me give 00:20:51.210 --> 00:20:53.170 you a number like you said to the top one or 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:56.190 two. We'll look at the top one or two or two 00:20:56.190 --> 00:20:59.769 or three. We've got a flex radio which of course 00:20:59.769 --> 00:21:02.269 is run with a mouse although they now have a 00:21:02.269 --> 00:21:04.670 product that gives you knobs. They cost almost 00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:08.509 as much as radio and we have the K3s from Ellicraft 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:11.609 out of California and these numbers are over 00:21:11.609 --> 00:21:15.170 a hundred. So they're Significantly above my 00:21:15.170 --> 00:21:17.950 minimum standard. I say we really want an 85 00:21:17.950 --> 00:21:21.430 db radio As a round number you say well, what 00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:23.970 about 84 83? Let's don't go nitpicking like that. 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:28.170 But so we've got Many choices from many different 00:21:28.170 --> 00:21:30.750 companies that are going to be 85 or better in 00:21:30.750 --> 00:21:34.599 that in that Right hand column. That is how I 00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:37.599 sort my measurement test, but then look at the 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:42.700 other things too Very good. Well, we have some 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:46.700 questions from some of our listeners and I'm 00:21:46.700 --> 00:21:50.240 sure we'll get some more so we're going to be 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.420 Coming back here in just a minute and take your 00:21:53.420 --> 00:21:57.720 calls with Rob after we pay a few bills So right 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:00.240 now we have this message from Tower Electronics 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.440 here on HamTalk Live. This episode of HamTalk 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.980 Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:22:07.339 --> 00:22:09.599 Tower Electronics has been the Ham's dime store 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:13.240 since 1978, bringing connectors, antennas, cables 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:15.960 and other parts to the world. 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You're listening 00:23:11.650 --> 00:23:16.730 to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. 00:23:17.109 --> 00:23:20.549 Call us on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or 00:23:20.549 --> 00:23:25.029 give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 00:23:25.029 --> 00:23:34.660 -638 -4261. Now, here's more HamTalk Live. We'd 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:36.920 like to thank Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:40.079 for sponsoring the show tonight to help bring 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.579 HamTalk live to you. They'll be at the Shelby, 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:47.420 North Carolina Ham Fest this weekend and will 00:23:47.420 --> 00:23:51.819 be coming soon to Findlay, Ohio, Peoria, Illinois 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:58.230 and Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Call 920 -435 -2973 00:23:58.230 --> 00:24:03.789 or visit their website at PL -259 .com. Be sure 00:24:03.789 --> 00:24:06.450 to listen to HamTalk Live every Thursday night 00:24:06.450 --> 00:24:10.049 at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right here on HamTalkLive 00:24:10.049 --> 00:24:13.609 .com. Also check out our Facebook page and our 00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:18.220 Twitter feed. Just search for HamTalk Live. Alright, 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:21.839 it is now time for your call So if you have a 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.140 question for Rob now is the time to call that 00:24:25.140 --> 00:24:29.460 number is eight one two net ham one eight one 00:24:29.460 --> 00:24:32.460 two six three eight four two six one or you can 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:35.980 Skype your question at ham talk live or you can 00:24:35.980 --> 00:24:40.119 tweet and at ham talk live or you can post it 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:44.420 in the chat room and we do have a couple of Tweets 00:24:44.420 --> 00:24:48.539 here and we also have a call. So we'll take this 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:52.259 call right here. Hello. Who's this? Hi, this 00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:56.119 is Marty Casey one CWF. Hi, it's chicken with 00:24:56.119 --> 00:25:00.240 fries. How you doing Marty? Doing good. So I 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:02.400 have a question. Yeah, what's your question? 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.339 Yeah, typically I call when I have a question 00:25:10.990 --> 00:25:14.970 I was just curious, Rob, what is the radio that 00:25:14.970 --> 00:25:18.210 you currently use as your daily driver, day to 00:25:18.210 --> 00:25:21.430 day? If you were to walk into your shack right 00:25:21.430 --> 00:25:25.569 now, what is your primary radio? Well, I really 00:25:25.569 --> 00:25:32.650 have two. And one is the Kenwood TS990S, which 00:25:32.650 --> 00:25:34.890 is their big... Hang on a second. Did you hear 00:25:34.890 --> 00:25:39.970 that, Marty? A Kenwood? Yes, he said a Kenwood 00:25:39.970 --> 00:25:44.210 990S. Yes, I heard that. OK, I just want to make 00:25:44.210 --> 00:25:48.509 sure you heard he said Kenwood 990S. OK, Kenwood. 00:25:48.789 --> 00:25:51.710 OK, go ahead. Go ahead, Rob. OK, so actually 00:25:51.710 --> 00:25:54.450 I have three operating positions in my shack 00:25:54.450 --> 00:25:59.630 and the left position has an ICOM peer analog. 00:26:00.059 --> 00:26:05.380 transceiver, the old ICOM -781 that has a CRT 00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:07.900 in it and it came out at least 25 years ago. 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:12.460 And that's my reference analog radio because 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.539 digital radios sometimes have funny artifacts. 00:26:16.380 --> 00:26:18.700 So if I hear something that sounds weird, and 00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:20.960 of course I probably had virtually every modern 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.079 radio through the shack at some point in time. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:26.619 a lot of them in a contest. So if I hear something 00:26:26.619 --> 00:26:28.880 funny, I need to be able to go back to a reference 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:30.839 radio and then switch back and forth. So I've 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:34.559 got a classic analog and then I have a fairly 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:38.619 modern, a few years old Kenwood. I have an ICOM 00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:41.880 Pro 3 and I even have that little ICOM 7300 that 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:44.160 just came out soon before the Dayton Hamvention 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:48.599 that's a direct sampling radio. So I use them 00:26:48.599 --> 00:26:51.130 all. As a matter of fact, Was on the air last 00:26:51.130 --> 00:26:52.990 weekend and then we're trying to figure out which 00:26:52.990 --> 00:26:55.089 band to be on for one of my normal schedules 00:26:55.089 --> 00:26:57.690 Conditions are kind of crazy and I change bands 00:26:57.690 --> 00:27:01.730 by changing chairs. So I wouldn't say that I 00:27:01.730 --> 00:27:05.029 have Don't just say I've got that one Kenwood 00:27:05.029 --> 00:27:07.789 I've got a Kenwood and icons and and I've used 00:27:07.789 --> 00:27:12.210 the flex and the Anna and so I've used a on a 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:15.809 regular basis. I use several brands Yeah, I think 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:17.369 I think that's interesting. I think a lot of 00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:20.279 people would be Kind of interested to see what 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.359 you use obviously because you know that you know 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:27.380 better than most I find it interesting how you 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:29.960 kind of have like one from each of I guess what 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.059 you can consider the three categories an old 00:27:32.059 --> 00:27:35.779 old analog radio a more modern radio with DSP 00:27:35.779 --> 00:27:39.279 and then an SDR Very very cool how you kind of 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.059 all three categories, and I think Neil's quite 00:27:42.059 --> 00:27:46.140 excited that one of them is the TS -990 Well 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:48.140 one thing, you know, I've been testing in the 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:52.000 laboratory since 1976 and then my first article 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.400 was a Looked at really dynamic range and radios 00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:58.420 that were having problems and how to cut How 00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:00.740 could I fix it which in that case was the Drake 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:06.099 R4C back in? 1977 ham radio magazine a wonderful 00:28:06.099 --> 00:28:07.980 magazine. Unfortunately, we don't have anymore. 00:28:07.980 --> 00:28:11.180 It was much more technical oriented than current 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:15.829 magazines, but the The laboratory obviously gives 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:18.490 us numbers to get a good starting point, but 00:28:18.490 --> 00:28:22.650 then in the last nine years since I have my contest 00:28:22.650 --> 00:28:25.690 station out in the country, east of Fort Collins, 00:28:25.690 --> 00:28:29.809 Colorado, it's been fantastic to use these in 00:28:29.809 --> 00:28:32.930 CW contests and sideband contests and get to 00:28:32.930 --> 00:28:36.789 use the SDRs and the analog. regular DSP radios 00:28:36.789 --> 00:28:39.869 and use a wide range and see how they really 00:28:39.869 --> 00:28:43.910 sound and are they easy to use and can I be efficient 00:28:43.910 --> 00:28:47.289 in a contest. So you really getting your hands 00:28:47.289 --> 00:28:52.890 on is important. Yeah, that's cool. I find it 00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:56.750 interesting that you contest or I assume that 00:28:56.750 --> 00:29:02.589 you contest with the 7300 because When I think 00:29:02.589 --> 00:29:07.569 about radios, I think of the 781 and the TS -990 00:29:07.569 --> 00:29:11.789 as really contest -grade, big dual -receiver 00:29:11.789 --> 00:29:14.769 radios, and then the 7300 is more of an entry 00:29:14.769 --> 00:29:16.849 -level radio. Do you think the performance is 00:29:16.849 --> 00:29:20.029 really getting there with the SDRs? Well, with 00:29:20.029 --> 00:29:23.329 the Flex and the Anon, definitely, and I've used 00:29:23.329 --> 00:29:27.950 those in C2B contests. I haven't used the 7300 00:29:27.950 --> 00:29:30.930 yet because it just came out and I got one just 00:29:30.930 --> 00:29:35.750 in time for Contest University and also the ICOM 00:29:35.750 --> 00:29:39.190 7851 was on alone temporarily for a few weeks. 00:29:39.609 --> 00:29:41.309 But of course the contest season won't start 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:44.029 again until October at least in my case. I mean 00:29:44.029 --> 00:29:47.029 there was a 10 -10 contest that some people think 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:49.789 10 -10 is a contest or not but I like it. And 00:29:49.789 --> 00:29:53.150 I've won Colorado a few times. But I haven't 00:29:53.150 --> 00:29:56.369 had a chance at all to put the 7300 in a contest 00:29:56.369 --> 00:29:58.650 environment yet. It's too soon. But I will this 00:29:58.650 --> 00:30:02.289 fall. Well, thanks so much. I think you kind 00:30:02.289 --> 00:30:05.289 of answered all my questions. But I'm intrigued 00:30:05.289 --> 00:30:09.130 to see how the 7300 performs in a contest environment. 00:30:09.269 --> 00:30:11.349 Not so much about the performance of the receiver, 00:30:11.589 --> 00:30:15.480 but how with the With the interface, it's such 00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.960 a small package on how you can manipulate your 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:21.079 contest, which will be interesting to see. Thanks 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:22.960 so much for taking my call. Okay, very good. 00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:25.740 Well, it will be fascinating to use it. Now, 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.980 I'll mention that I've used the KX3 in two contests. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:32.579 Now, that's a radio that's smaller than the 73 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:36.529 - That's a small radio. Thanks to Ella Craft, 00:30:36.769 --> 00:30:41.690 they loaned me a KX3 and I was on the air from 00:30:41.690 --> 00:30:45.809 Easter Island for three days. Not as a de -expedition, 00:30:45.869 --> 00:30:48.670 it was a trip with my wife and I was on the air 00:30:48.670 --> 00:30:51.009 each morning and each afternoon and that was 00:30:51.009 --> 00:30:54.450 just a kick. I was running 12 watts on a battery 00:30:54.450 --> 00:30:58.670 from Easter Island. So that was good too. Yeah, 00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:00.829 there must have been plenty of people wanting 00:31:00.829 --> 00:31:04.730 to talk to you there. It's cool with the small 00:31:04.730 --> 00:31:09.650 radios there. Yes, yes. But you're right. You 00:31:09.650 --> 00:31:14.230 need good ergonomics. Whatever radio it is, it 00:31:14.230 --> 00:31:17.750 needs to be easy to use and not a chore. Right. 00:31:17.829 --> 00:31:22.269 That's what I'm interested in, with how ICOM 00:31:22.269 --> 00:31:24.630 came out with the 7300 with the touch screen 00:31:24.630 --> 00:31:27.309 and everything. Uh, I'm intrigued to see how 00:31:27.309 --> 00:31:29.750 you think of it after using it in a contrast, 00:31:29.750 --> 00:31:32.150 uh, contrast and interested. And I wonder how 00:31:32.150 --> 00:31:35.849 it will compare to when I know icon just, uh, 00:31:35.869 --> 00:31:39.230 and, uh, they just released, uh, they just announced 00:31:39.230 --> 00:31:42.529 the, uh, boys at the 76th time, how that, how 00:31:42.529 --> 00:31:45.589 that will, uh, how that will play in a contest 00:31:45.589 --> 00:31:47.009 environment. Thanks so much for taking that. 00:31:47.490 --> 00:31:51.390 Sure. Thank you, Marty. Appreciate the call. 00:31:53.049 --> 00:31:57.460 Bye bye. Bye bye. Mentioning the 7610, what we 00:31:57.460 --> 00:32:02.660 don't really know is it a spin -off of the 7300, 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:06.960 which I hope it is, or is it a Mark II version 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:10.700 of the 7600, which is a standard upconversion 00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:16.519 radio with DSP. They didn't say. Yeah, it's going 00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:21.529 to be interesting. I'm giving Marty a hard time 00:32:21.529 --> 00:32:24.809 about the Kenwood 990 because that's the one 00:32:24.809 --> 00:32:28.750 that I keep drooling over but While we're talking 00:32:28.750 --> 00:32:35.029 about icon and the and the 7300 I know There 00:32:35.029 --> 00:32:37.269 were a lot of people that were really surprised 00:32:37.269 --> 00:32:40.049 when the 7300 came out and they went to your 00:32:40.049 --> 00:32:43.539 charts to look and see where it was and it shot 00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:47.579 right up into the top 10, up against a lot of 00:32:47.579 --> 00:32:51.740 these other radios. So why don't you just briefly 00:32:51.740 --> 00:32:56.240 talk about overall impressions of the 7300 so 00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:59.500 far? Okay, and it's one thing we need to discuss 00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:03.859 is testing of direct sampling radios is not straightforward 00:33:03.859 --> 00:33:07.920 like our radios we've had now forever. Whether 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:14.400 it was an old Drake or a Collins, or a TS -590, 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:18.240 which is now a $1 ,300 radio, they don't act 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:23.220 the same way. So a direct sampling radio, the 00:33:23.220 --> 00:33:28.079 distortion products are somewhat constant. All 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:31.119 our legacy radios you feed in a signal and you 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:34.079 keep increasing the test signal levels and eventually 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:37.059 the distortion products start appearing above 00:33:37.059 --> 00:33:40.440 the noise floor of the radio and then you drive 00:33:40.440 --> 00:33:43.440 it harder and The distortion products just go 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:47.339 up about a three to one rate That's not the case 00:33:47.339 --> 00:33:51.079 with these direct sampling radios at all. So 00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:55.339 it's hard to compare and because the direct sampling 00:33:55.339 --> 00:34:00.119 will have Modest distortion all the time and 00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:02.240 if it's covered up with band noise, we don't 00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:06.859 care but It sort of has a brick wall that at 00:34:06.859 --> 00:34:09.300 some point boom it goes into horrendous overload. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:15.719 So it's just totally different Very good. Well, 00:34:15.780 --> 00:34:20.619 I'm you know, the front end overload I know is 00:34:20.619 --> 00:34:25.920 has been a bit of an issue on it and I'd like 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.420 to try one out maybe one of these days I'll try 00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:32.199 one but it sure has taken the ham radio world 00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:35.840 by storm that's for sure and a lot of cool features 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:39.260 that you wouldn't normally see at that price 00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:41.980 level for sure. Right and let me make some more 00:34:41.980 --> 00:34:44.139 comments about the details you mentioned the 00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:47.739 testing was interesting that it has a feature 00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:52.719 called IP plus which is a more consumer term 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:54.739 for something called dither which sounds like 00:34:54.750 --> 00:34:59.929 Nonsense, but it did two things it It raised 00:34:59.929 --> 00:35:02.230 the noise floor which meant it was less sensitive 00:35:02.230 --> 00:35:05.889 and it raised it a lot more than 10 DB So an 00:35:05.889 --> 00:35:08.349 80 meters you wouldn't care but in 10 meters 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:12.389 you would so I never run it and it it also was 00:35:12.389 --> 00:35:16.469 one of the strange things where because The noise 00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:19.469 in its dither which really shouldn't be there 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:23.539 Covered up the lower level distortion products 00:35:23.539 --> 00:35:26.860 that made the number kind of inflated So if you 00:35:26.860 --> 00:35:28.760 read the footnote you really should read the 00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:32.280 footnotes on my website And I'm suggesting don't 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:34.860 run it unless you have a real need for it. It 00:35:34.860 --> 00:35:39.739 does not make it that Crash point where the radio 00:35:39.739 --> 00:35:42.199 just goes nuts with as with any direct sampling 00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:44.840 radio It doesn't change that in the slightest. 00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:48.280 It just affects the lower level measurements 00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:52.440 the other thing is Probably not the perfect radio 00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:56.699 for field day unless you've got Band filters 00:35:56.699 --> 00:36:00.960 because it's got a really wide front end. You 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:04.039 mean it's an entry -level radio. It's small It's 00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:09.019 fun to use. I like it. I own one but the if you're 00:36:09.019 --> 00:36:13.400 on 20 meters and you had another station on field 00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:17.079 day on 40 meters and let's say another station 00:36:17.079 --> 00:36:21.559 on 17 meters that front end only knocks those 00:36:21.559 --> 00:36:24.920 two other bands down 10 dB. That's not much. 00:36:25.300 --> 00:36:28.699 So if you're running a multi -field day station, 00:36:28.940 --> 00:36:31.900 you better have band filters, bandpass filters 00:36:31.900 --> 00:36:35.429 for each band. And if you're running... a CW 00:36:35.429 --> 00:36:37.849 station and a sideband station on the same band 00:36:37.849 --> 00:36:40.409 well then of course the bandpass filter wouldn't 00:36:40.409 --> 00:36:43.170 help at all so you just have to realize what 00:36:43.170 --> 00:36:45.429 its limitations are and what its strengths are 00:36:45.429 --> 00:36:47.809 but it is very easy to use the touchscreen works 00:36:47.809 --> 00:36:51.989 very simply it's not a hindrance and it keeps 00:36:51.989 --> 00:36:54.070 you from having to dig into all sorts of menus 00:36:54.070 --> 00:36:59.150 most of the time all right well let's take some 00:36:59.150 --> 00:37:02.130 of these questions here from Twitter we've got 00:37:02.130 --> 00:37:08.099 several of them The first one says, what do you 00:37:08.099 --> 00:37:12.280 think about the new SDR radios versus a Drake 00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:18.059 R4C with all the upgrades you can get? All right. 00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:20.780 I know I didn't send that question in. Well, 00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:24.119 I actually did contest just a few years ago with 00:37:24.119 --> 00:37:28.019 a modified C line with my mods in it and 10 tech. 00:37:28.170 --> 00:37:31.389 Orion 2 with the Eagle upgrade and I actually 00:37:31.389 --> 00:37:33.730 used the Eagle upgrade sub receiver because I 00:37:33.730 --> 00:37:36.110 was checking that out for Jack Birchfield So 00:37:36.110 --> 00:37:39.909 they both perform well But in this day and age 00:37:39.909 --> 00:37:42.630 if you're a contest or you got to have computer 00:37:42.630 --> 00:37:45.710 logging That's a week's point for anything like 00:37:45.710 --> 00:37:47.889 a Collins or a Drake or a hammerland or any of 00:37:47.889 --> 00:37:50.210 the old radios They don't talk to your computer. 00:37:50.349 --> 00:37:52.829 Now if you're running a single band contest like 00:37:52.829 --> 00:37:56.650 I was on 160 I just had to give up the fact my 00:37:56.650 --> 00:37:58.969 log had no idea what frequency I was transmitting 00:37:58.969 --> 00:38:03.789 on. If you look at the chart on a modified C 00:38:03.789 --> 00:38:08.409 line, you'll see it fits that criteria of it's 00:38:08.409 --> 00:38:13.210 about 85 dB. I think it's 84, but it makes the 00:38:13.210 --> 00:38:16.550 cut. But then there's other radios that one thing 00:38:16.550 --> 00:38:20.909 that was a shock when the FT2000 came out, it's 00:38:20.909 --> 00:38:23.579 not that long ago, maybe Approaching 10 years 00:38:23.579 --> 00:38:26.340 maybe not quite that long and its numbers were 00:38:26.340 --> 00:38:28.679 like in the 60s whether you looked at the a double 00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:32.159 RL test or my test or anyone else and so that 00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:34.980 was a case where you you see you found it way 00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:39.239 down on the chart so again look at the look at 00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:40.860 the chart and say okay, I'm gonna sort of make 00:38:40.860 --> 00:38:45.019 a cutoff and you know 85 plus and So the sea 00:38:45.019 --> 00:38:49.340 line was there and your TS 590s there A lot of 00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:52.960 radios are vastly different prices. The Hillbillings 00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:57.800 there for $18 ,000. The 7851 at 105, but again, 00:38:57.880 --> 00:39:02.460 it's like $13 ,000. But you've also got a KX3 00:39:02.460 --> 00:39:07.420 for, what is it, $1 ,000. So a lot of options. 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:14.360 Very good. Thanks to Brian, KC9KUH, for sending 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:17.949 in that question, by the way. And Dr. Scott Wright, 00:39:18.110 --> 00:39:22.829 K0MD says, if someone with a superb antenna system 00:39:22.829 --> 00:39:26.809 who's operating largely DX contesting, what two 00:39:26.809 --> 00:39:31.949 performance criteria are most important? Well, 00:39:31.949 --> 00:39:36.170 if it's CW, the close end dynamic ranges, because 00:39:36.170 --> 00:39:39.239 that DXpedition you're going to have thousands 00:39:39.239 --> 00:39:41.659 of stations that are up two, up three, up four, 00:39:41.900 --> 00:39:43.320 that are going to be calling and you're going 00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:45.480 to be hearing a lot of those. And they're going 00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:48.679 to potentially intermod on top of the DX station. 00:39:48.699 --> 00:39:50.900 And of course we're all going to have some lids 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:53.219 that are going to be calling on frequency. Not 00:39:53.219 --> 00:39:57.400 much you can do about that. So for the CW, either 00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:00.519 a contest or a DXpedition, look at the close 00:40:00.519 --> 00:40:03.139 in dynamic range, which is what the tables sorted 00:40:03.139 --> 00:40:07.940 by. And that's why I did it that way. And that's 00:40:07.940 --> 00:40:12.639 really the big number. Almost every radio made 00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:19.139 is sensitive enough. So that's not a limit. And 00:40:19.139 --> 00:40:21.599 unfortunately, if you're in the city, you're 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:24.579 probably not going to ever be able to realize 00:40:24.579 --> 00:40:26.739 that sensitivity that's there. And again, that 00:40:26.739 --> 00:40:28.500 sensitivity is really important on 10 meters, 00:40:28.579 --> 00:40:31.360 12 meters, 15 meters. It's almost meaningless 00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:35.420 on 40 meters during the night time. But then 00:40:35.420 --> 00:40:38.250 don't forget Depends on time of day, and you've 00:40:38.250 --> 00:40:41.690 got good antennas. I ran into a case with one 00:40:41.690 --> 00:40:46.730 OEM that the radio didn't have a preamp on 80 00:40:46.730 --> 00:40:48.690 meters, for instance. And during the daytime, 00:40:48.809 --> 00:40:51.329 I was listening at 8 .30 in the morning, and 00:40:51.329 --> 00:40:54.829 I couldn't copy this one station on the modern 00:40:54.829 --> 00:40:57.489 radio, but it could copy it on my 25 -year -old 00:40:57.489 --> 00:41:01.969 icon. So we do need sensitivity, even on the 00:41:01.969 --> 00:41:06.000 low bands, particularly at daytime. Amazingly, 00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:11.059 when I work 160 contests, and I'm working JA's 00:41:11.059 --> 00:41:14.239 from Japan, about seven o 'clock in the morning, 00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:17.780 well, the sun's coming up, but the band is really 00:41:17.780 --> 00:41:20.940 quiet. So it's amazing that here you're on the 00:41:20.940 --> 00:41:22.940 lowest hand band that we have. Well, there are 00:41:22.940 --> 00:41:24.800 some below the broadcast band, but they're kind 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:27.920 of experimental, that we do have to be concerned 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:32.539 about sensitivity. It I guess if you say which 00:41:32.539 --> 00:41:35.219 to dynamic range at the right column sensitivity 00:41:35.219 --> 00:41:39.119 the left column But keep your preamp off unless 00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:43.000 you need it. I have a friend who has the 7300 00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:46.599 I was talking to him on 40 meters And he had 00:41:46.599 --> 00:41:48.739 the preamp on and he was complaining about some 00:41:48.739 --> 00:41:52.400 some overload You don't need a preamp on the 00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:56.119 7300 on almost any band except maybe 10 and 12 00:41:56.119 --> 00:42:00.170 certainly not 40 meters and keep it off so If 00:42:00.170 --> 00:42:03.489 you want to minimize the radio's chance of overload, 00:42:04.150 --> 00:42:07.650 only use a preamp when you need it. All right, 00:42:07.650 --> 00:42:10.590 we've got one minute left and I've got one more 00:42:10.590 --> 00:42:13.590 question here. What do you see the OEMs doing 00:42:13.590 --> 00:42:17.070 with SDR? ICOM seems to be going to SDR. What 00:42:17.070 --> 00:42:19.309 do you think Yezu and Kenwood are going to do? 00:42:19.389 --> 00:42:21.309 Are they going to stay superheterodyne or follow 00:42:21.309 --> 00:42:24.389 suit? And then what are the advantages for the 00:42:24.389 --> 00:42:28.110 superheterodyne? Well, if you look at the top 00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:30.070 two you've got you've got the flex you've got 00:42:30.070 --> 00:42:32.570 the ks3 and they really measure very similarly 00:42:32.570 --> 00:42:35.750 So they're both good. So I just say don't don't 00:42:35.750 --> 00:42:38.570 pick a radio on architecture pick it on what 00:42:38.570 --> 00:42:44.550 makes what makes sense for you, but the the ICOM 00:42:44.550 --> 00:42:48.780 really shock the world with the 7300. I mean, 00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:50.699 they've sold thousands of them. It's hard to 00:42:50.699 --> 00:42:52.460 get on the air and not hear somebody talk on 00:42:52.460 --> 00:42:56.099 a 7300. So I think that ICOM will be going in 00:42:56.099 --> 00:43:00.900 that direction. The 7851 may be the last really 00:43:00.900 --> 00:43:04.820 big analog front end type of radio, super heteronet, 00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:08.340 let's use that term, that comes out of the big 00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:14.650 three out of Japan. I would expect the Yezu and 00:43:14.650 --> 00:43:17.630 Kenwood to be looking at it seriously. We'll 00:43:17.630 --> 00:43:21.309 just see what the sales figures are over time. 00:43:21.510 --> 00:43:26.389 If the 7610 is a big brother for a 7300, it might 00:43:26.389 --> 00:43:29.030 be a monster seller like the 7300 has. It'll 00:43:29.030 --> 00:43:30.769 probably be a three or four thousand dollar radio. 00:43:32.329 --> 00:43:35.190 So the question everyone's asking, what is Ellicraft 00:43:35.190 --> 00:43:37.630 going to do? Is there ever going to be a K4? 00:43:38.369 --> 00:43:42.369 Will the K4 be a SuperHat radio because the K3S 00:43:42.369 --> 00:43:44.849 is a really good radio and maybe they'd make 00:43:44.849 --> 00:43:48.170 it bigger with the band scope build -in and maybe 00:43:48.170 --> 00:43:50.469 a power supply build -in and all that kind of 00:43:50.469 --> 00:43:52.949 stuff, but that's the big unknown. But there's 00:43:52.949 --> 00:43:55.349 nothing wrong with either one. They both work 00:43:55.349 --> 00:44:01.869 and really look at price, features, size, do 00:44:01.869 --> 00:44:03.670 you need a computer to run it, all that kind 00:44:03.670 --> 00:44:06.130 of stuff before you look at the architecture. 00:44:07.940 --> 00:44:10.340 Very good, Rob. Thank you so much for coming 00:44:10.340 --> 00:44:13.880 on the show. That is a wrap for this week's edition 00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:16.460 of HamTalk Live. I'd like to thank my guest, 00:44:16.900 --> 00:44:19.960 Rob Sherwood, NC0B of Sherwood Engineering and 00:44:19.960 --> 00:44:21.800 everyone out there in cyberspace for listening. 00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:24.659 Calling in invite you back next Thursday night 00:44:24.659 --> 00:44:27.820 at 9 p .m. Eastern time and our plan is for Skylar 00:44:27.820 --> 00:44:31.920 Fennel W or a KD zero WHB the Bill Pasternak 00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.460 young ham of the Year Award winner to be with 00:44:34.460 --> 00:44:37.599 us. He's still working on his Schedule, so hopefully 00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:41.059 that will be our guest next week for a list of 00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:43.300 all of our upcoming guests visit hamtalklive 00:44:43.300 --> 00:44:47.219 .com So for now, this is Neil rap WB nine VPG 00:44:47.219 --> 00:44:50.300 saying seven three seven five and may the good 00:44:50.300 --> 00:44:52.079 DX Be yours!