Earl,
That's great that you are taking the time to do this. A great resource.
My current radio is the IC746 (not pro) but is completely loaded with a full
complement of filters (e.g. 500Hz at 9MHz and 500 Hz at 455KHz). With the
filters, it is a pretty solid little radio with both mechanical filters and
pretty good DSP. Stock it has no CW filter at all and really leaves lots to
be desired (but then again, what radio would perform without filters?) I
placed my radio next to a 1000D and did a similar A/B test as you and came
away from the session thinking (why would I spend $3200 for a 1000D when I
could buy 5 radios that hear just as well?)
The other interesting feature of the 746 is its 80Hz peaking filter. I've
dug CW signals out of noise when you can only detect the presence of CW
without the peaking filter. It is difficult to tune being only 80Hz wide,
but the signals just pop right out of the noise. Simply amazing.
The major flaw in the 746 is lack of a narrow roofing filter (15KHz
currently). I usually run the 746 with the attenuator on because the
receiver is just way too hot. With the attenuator on, the gain distribution
in the radio is excellent and typically get S0 noise with 500Hz filters.
Only occassional blow-by is experienced.
I would love it if somebody with more techno wizardry than me could come up
with a filter mod that swaps out the 15KHz roofing filter for something more
reasonable, and just abandon its VHF capabilities.
Ford-N0FP
ford@cmgate.com
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