Wow. Reports of the demise of the quality of information on this reflector have
been
greatly exagerated. In less than 24 hours I have received 15 replies, all
helpful,
regarding my query about how much stock to put in lab measurements--especially
the ARRL published ones--when comparings rigs. And specifically for the Omni VI
and the FT-1000MP. My personal thanks to each of you that took the time to
think about the issue and reply.
Wayne, W5XD
Summary follows:
The most important theme was that subtle ergonomics and other
not-so-easily measured features of a rig count heavily and that the measured
performance is really too close to provide the margin for choice.
I did not ask permission of my correspondents to quote them, so I will do so
anonymously. Here's my personal favorite:
>Lab and test results do not handle personal preference. A BMW may get
>you to the parts store a lot faster than a Ford pickup, but if that's Rohn 45G
>you're bringing home, forget the Beemer.
(And he didn't know I've been driving a Ford pickup since 1983. And there's
nothing I'd rather bring home in it than 45G!)
Here are some numbers:
Taking the 15 repies as a poll for rig preference, I'd rate:
4 of the replies as "I recommend the FT-1000MP from personal experience"
2 of the replies as "I recommend the Omni VI from personal experience"
remainder as being neutral or no personal experience with the two rigs.
3 of the replies said the OMNI VI is much stronger as a CW rig than SSB.
Only 1 disputed my reading of the lab measured performance as being in favor
of the OMNI VI. I did not follow up but it sounded like he had made measurements
himself.
>I've never had
>IC-781's or FT-1000's to use in contests, but have used the following:
>FT-107, FT-980, FT-767, FT-990, IC-765, TS-950, TS-940, TS-930, TS-850,
>Paragon, and Omni V. The 3 highest rate rigs on CW were the FT-990, TS-930
>and the OMNI-V. On phone, the 3 highest rate rigs were FT-990, FT-767 and
>FT-980, all over 300 per hour.
The reference to the good performance of the Omni V especially interested
me because that's what I've been running for several years and not
considered it a very good contesting rig because of the missing RIT and
the lack of a usable PC interface.
Another case study:
> few months ago a few friends and myself had the opportunity to do a
>side-by-side comparison of the OMNI V and VI and my TS850 with a
>Timewave 59+ DSP. Oh, by the way, I've been strictly operating QRP, so
>weak signal work was and still is very important. One of our QRP
>associates in IOWA ran a 250MW beacon for us on 40M so as to have a
>constant signal to monitor. No fancy test equipment, just our trained
>ears and a fairly good antenna...windom at about 70' in the clear.
>
>The OMNI VI lead the pack in sensitivity and selectivity, but not as
>dramatically as we thought it would...very subtle! I'm not a
>contestor, but I found the menu system on the OMNI a bit cumbersum.
Here's the most detailed description I received of the subtle features that
make the FT1000MP popular:
>DSP doesn't replace good crystal or mechanical filters and the FT1000MP
>has room for all that I will ever need and it allows independent selection of
>any filter in either IF (even the FT1000MP >doesn't do this). I bought the
>pair of 250 Hz and two other 500hz Collins filters for the rx and sub rx. I
>can set a cw signal with the tuning indicator at a bandwidth of 6.0 kHz and
>then lower the selectivity all the way to 250 Hz in one IF or in both IF's and
>never touch the tuning or audio knobs. The only thing that changes is
>the noise. The band selection is wonderful with two bandregisters that
>remember everything you had selected (two levels) on another band. AGS is
>off, fast, slow, and auto (I saw where a guy was going to mod his radio to
>get an off position on another radio). QST did not make a big deal about
>rx ant, but the TS850 does not have this capability and I believe all the
>others
>have it. The FT1000MP lets you set the DSP parameters to about anything
>you want in the menu's, but makes it real easy to select from the front panel.
>
>The TS850 can't turn the clarifier off! It works well with my Heil headset,
>external keyer (it has an internal keyer, but I am used to mine), SB220
>(it has internal relay to ground the 115 vac relay from the SB220), and
>computer without any external interface that most of the others require.
> I have not any problems with overload and the internal antenna tuner is
> quiet and loads all my antennas. Tuning rate is settable to anything you
> might like. The light for RX and TX above each vfo allow you to see what
>you are doing very quickly. The sub rx operating into the Heil stereo
>headset actually allows you to quickly determine which rx the signal
>is on by feeding a little signal to the opposite ear. The down-up buttons
> allow quick qsy as does the shuttle dial. I like the memories and they
>work well. The noise blanker seems effective. S-meter is provided for
>each rx and has a neat hold feature that you can adjust to your liking.
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