Hi Gary,
I saw the Kachina at Dallas HamCom last year, and have to admit that I'm
not one who favors the PC-based radios. I guess the GUI/keyboard/mouse
approach doesn't lend itself to what I think works well in radio, but
maybe I'm a minority here.
As far as the receiver, I can't comment about any first hand experience,
but the "QST" product review noted that phase noise performance in the
Kachina was second only to the Omni VI+. To quote from the article: "We
noted exceptionally low composite (phase) noise -- approximately 10 dB
lower across the 2 to 22 MHz range tested than many radios we have tested
recently. ... In fact, only the Ten-Tec Omni IV (sic) PLUS showed lower
composite noise across most of the range. This most likely resulted from
the direct digital synthesizer design and the computer
temperature-compensated reference oscillator." That's a strong
endorsement of one facet of RX performance. Otherwise, "QST"
characterizes the performance of the Kachina of "typical" for a rig in
the $2,000 price range.
I hope this doesn't contaminate your findings with another's.
73, Duane AC5AA
Duane A. Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas
ac5aa@juno.com -or- ac5aa@earthlink.net
Day: dacalvin@us.ibm.com
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