[CQ-Contest] Icom 746 as contesting rig

[Larry Schimelpfenig]

Some comments made in response to John W5TD's question were of interest to 
me.

I used a 746 as my only contest radio for four years. I had a pair of INRAD 
400hz cw filters in mine as well as an 1800hz filter for ssb.

I found that the receiver was prone to IMD on the lower bands with really 
big signals present. While Quack suggested that one turn the RF gain down, I 
found that a few db of attenuation nicely took care of the problem. Beyond 
that issue I found the 746 to be a great contesting rig. While I used the 
746 in the NAQPs, Sprints, Sweepstakes etc from home, I was operating the dx 
contests from multis using tricked out MPs loaded with filters and OMNI VIs 
also filled with filters. As far as the transceiver was concerned, I never 
felt that I was at a disadvantage when I went back to using the 746 from 
home.

My pal Mike K4GMH uses a pair of 746s for his SO2R contesting, mostly RTTY. 
He almost always has one of the top scores from the U.S.. He doesn't seem to 
have any problems heari

I found the 746 to be a full featured, really decent contesting rig.

73 de Larry K7SV