At 05:43 PM 4/10/02 -0700, you wrote:
>It seems that most of the distrust and disillusionment
>of the ARRL reviews is centered on the reviewer's
>comments. So how about having reviews that are nothing
>but cold hard laboratory measurements, with no remarks
>of any kind from anyone on the editorial staff. Don't
>waste my time with a bunch of subjective data that I
>really don't need, I can get all of that I could
>possibly want on the air. Let the numbers and graphs
>speak for themselves!!
>
>
>Duane
>N9DG
Subjectivity is a major part of what determines what is a 'good'
or 'not good' piece of equipment. Let's face it, there's at least one rig
out and available today that's got nice cosmetics, feel, and look and is
seriously sub-par for receiver performance vs. the price tag it commands.
How's that for a subjective, biased opinion based on a Product Review?
And all indications are that it is selling quite nicely! If you were to read
the reviews on this rig, via email and some of the eham.net stuff, they
rave about how great the rig is but don't offer any qualitative information
on what the receiver is "like".
Writing about radio receivers is a little like writing about music - what
you like or don't like is going to come across and may not be reflective
of what's actually happening on the stage. Two people in the same
spot can have vastly different reactions to the same event.
As an active contester, I've been able to use just about everything that
could be termed a 'serious' radio built by our competitors over the
past 10 years or so. When I travel somewhere to operate, I usually
bring my Omni-VI Plus and then use one of the hosts rig's for radio
#2, with varying success. It has been enlightening to run a competitors'
radio for 45 to 48 hours side by side with one of ours in a major
contest a number of different times - and what I learned will be part
of what goes into the Orion, eventually. Subjective? Sure - but
subjectivity can be put to good use....
Scott Robbins, W4PA
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