I'm with Yuri - I appreciate the comparisons of the OMNI VI to
other radios, and hearing the problems and comments of others
BOTH positive and negative. I like to take the engineering approach
versus the "fan" approach - I am looking for the features I want
at a price I can handle. It turns out to be Ten Tec most of the
time, NOT because I am a "fan" and do not want to know about
the good points of other radios (from Japan), but because
the Ten Tec rig does the job for me.
That said, what it this (it happens over and over) "drift"
problem people associate with the OMNI VI. I have had two,
know many others, and the TCXO works find and the rig does
not drift. If you are talking about the recent posts about
the PBT drift, there is something defective about that radio
in my opinion, that should not happen with the run of the
mill OMNI VI. I sure hope the problem is diagnosed and fixed
with a minimum of trouble. That is NOT an area where the OMNI
VI shows up second to any other rig.
Now, when it comes to what you can hear.... I want to find
that point, too. I have a Kenwood TS 440 that hears everything
my OMNI VI can hear even when the signals are weak and we are
in the strong QRM environment. I have not tried really strong
signals 10 KHz away to see what happens, but I will try that
next to see if the 440's noise floor goes up noticeably. I
do not doubt the theory that the level rises, but have yet to
notice it making a difference in my ability to have a QSO.
Most of the time (other than mobile or portable) I would
RATHER the OMNI VI because it sounds better and less fatiguing
to my ears, stuff like that. But the 440 will do the job, if
not so nicely, in 99 per cent of the cases I come across.
I have been through a lot of receivers in my shack, and just
haven't found the one that "hears things the others can't hear"
as many advertisers often like to claim. Just ain't experienced
that one. It seems to be more a matter of how easy it is to
pull it out, and sometimes the selectivity at my disposal. Maybe
my ears are particularly good, that may be so, I used to use
receivers wide as a barn door to copy a weak one underneath
a couple of strong ones, occasionally dynamically copying them
by beat notes against the strong stations. Those were the days.
Clark
WA3JPG
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