Bill,
Disclaimer: I know both of the owners, as well as the Timewave people.
I have lived here in Minneapolis and known Timewave's owner for 20 years.
I am not affiliated with either business in any way other than as a
customer. I have no financial dealings with either.
I have a 599zx. The 59Y is the exact same electronics in a slightly
different configuration and slid into the Yaesu speaker cabinet.
The pricing should in no way reflect the quality of the device...it's the
same as always, maybe better as Dan and Dennis have kept updating both
software and hardware. They also stand behind the product completely.
I use my 599zx on my FT1000D. I find it to be an excellent addition.
Understand that it's not magic. There are some circumstances when it's
extremely effective, and at other times, not so great. While it does
have a SSB mode, it is really and primarily a digital mode filter. What
it does for cw and rtty signals is nothing short of amazing, IMHO.
Especially on rtty. Timewave designed it to work as a rtty demodulator,
you don't even need another device to use rtty. Because the rtty signal
is a constant, they built "brick-wall" filter skirts on either side of
the signal as well as between the mark and space frequencies. It's
amazing what it does.
On CW, it's also very effective. It quickly (we'er talking nanoseconds
here) zaps heterodynes and cuts though the noise of a crowded band
especially when you use the random noise filter. It has built in AGC
so you can turn off the rig's AGC if you need more signal. ONe of the
common complaints of the 1000D owners I know, as well as myself, is that
the audio output is not as good as it should be on a rig of it's class.
The 599zx and the 59Y enhance the output from the radio significantly,
and they both have their own AF pots to control volume.
I have noticed that in the really narrow settings...50-150Hz for example,
that there is some processing "ring" but it's not terribly objectionable,
especially if you're hearing a particular signal and the other people
in propagation range (I'm talking 160 here) aren't. It really works well
on very noisy bands...don't get me wrong, it doesn't remove the noise, it
just allows you to hear the signal better through it. It does zap hets,
though.
Just a few thoughts and my $.02.
Larry Menzel N0XB
Northfield, MN
At 06:56 PM 2/19/99 -0800, Bill Brannick wrote:
>
>The subject hardware, as most of the folks here probably already know,
>is a DSP unit which is installed into the Yaesu SP-6 external speaker.
>
>I have received generally good reports on this unit but would like a
>little bit more of a confirmation from this group. I think it might be
>a worthwhile addition to my 990AC.
>
>Secondly, given Timewave's Chapter 11 status (or is it 13?) the
>distribution of the unit is being accomplished by an firm called
>Great River Electronic in MN. Their web site states that the two
>developers of the DSP-59Y are the owners of Great River Electronics.
>The site also says that the unit is being sold for approx. half of the
>price that it was listed for with Timewave.
>
>Always being a firm believer in the old adage .. "Ya get what you pay
>for" .. I would appreciate any comments on this subject.
>
>The site referred to above is:
>http://www.greatriverelectronics.com/whygre.html
>
>
>
>
>=====
>Bill Brannick
>ARS: KN6FJ
>ICQ # 8393042
>
>
>--
>FAQ on WWW: http://www.qsl.net/k7on/yaesu.html
>Submissions: yaesu@contesting.com
>Administrative requests: yaesu-REQUEST@contesting.com
>Problems: owner-yaesu@contesting.com
>Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
>
>
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.qsl.net/k7on/yaesu.html
Submissions: yaesu@contesting.com
Administrative requests: yaesu-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-yaesu@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|