John,
You have to take that article with a tiny grain of salt.
It lists the top 3 receivers (of transceivers) and of course you can rank
them against a single specification, as has been done.
However there is much more to a transceiver's performance than just one
single spec.
The reality is, ALL transceivers currently on the market have deficiencies
in one area or another, regardless of make or model; there is no "best
radio".
What you really need to do is look at the specifications which are most
important for the kind of operator you are (in this case it was about
contesting, so we'll pick "contesting"), then make a list of all of the
radios that are "good enough" in the measurement important for this type of
operation, and finally go through that list, read all of the advantages and
disadvantages of each radio, and then pick the one that is most fitting to
you. THIS MAY BE DIFFERENT FROM ONE OPERATOR TO THE NEXT.
BTW, the only place I know to read about advantages and disadvantages it to
follow Rob Sherwood's presentations over the past 5 years. The stuff he
reports on there are not found in any list, but they can be just as
important, sometimes more important than the measurements found in the
lists.
For instance, many radios have AGC's that behave poorly in the presence of
strong pulse noise.
If you live near an electric fence, this could influence your decision.
Or another instance, some radios (one is in the top group) have lousy audio
response and this can become very annoying to some operators in a long
contest. It might not bother other operators at all. This will (and
should) influence your purchase decision.
Sometimes I think "lists" do more damage than good.
They are great for the OM who understands the measurements, but they can
significantly mislead the next guy who doesn't understand any of that and
just sees a list with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Garbage.
In the case of the latter, the radio I use (Eagle) would fall in the
category "Garbage", yet I wouldn't trade my Eagle for any of the other three
higher rated radios (except to sell them, make some profit, and buy another
Eagle).
Once again the ARRL has changed their test and measurement procedures, but
IMHO, this time for the better!
For the first time they have distinguished between the needs of a top
contester, and the needs of a top DXer.
Up until this distinction, both were thrown together in one category.
If you are interested in this, you can read the explanation by Mark, K1RO,
on page 55 of the April issue of QST.
It's in the gray box on the right side of the page.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of John K3GHH
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2012 11:51 AM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] Top receivers
Did list members notice the article recently mentioned in the ARRL Contest
Update? I haven't pored over it thoroughly, and am not qualified really to
understand it, but the FTDX5000D and K3 come out on top; the Orion 2 is then
said also to have "extremely high performance," and the article's comparison
table includes only these three radios. Finally, the Perseus SDR is
mentioned.
http://www.edn.com/article/521690-High_performance_HF_transceiver_design_A_h
am_s_perspective.php
--
John K3GHH
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