[RTTY] ic756proIII

Mon Oct 23 20:44:30 EDT 2006

Hi Dean,

Don't get me wrong, the Inraded Mark V is a good radio.  Like you I spent a 
ton of time and money on it.

Yes you are very correct on Icom's double peak filter, it is dynamite.  The 
trick to making the Pro III perform even better is on Don's web site.  The 
Pro III seems to benefit more by carefully adjusting the RF gain control 
and/or Pro III's attenuator to find the sweet spot the DSP likes.  This is 
usually right at the curve of the AGC.

While DXing on 160m CW, the Inraded Mark V was slightly better with no 
adjustments than the Pro III.  However by carefully adjusting the RF gain on 
the Icom I could hear the weak DX signals pop from the noise as good as the 
Mark V.  I spend a lot of time on 160m when I am not on some digital mode. 
I have no special receive antennas here on a small city lot.  So very good 
filtering is very important to me.

Since I was getting more and more interested in RTTY and less on phone,  I 
opted for the Pro III in the end.  If I was chasing DX on phone only, I 
probably would have stayed with the Mark V or maybe a Kenwood TS950sdx.

The bandscope is really worth it's weight in gold in a RTTY contest.  If you 
spend some time with it, you can tell which signals are CW or RTTY like on a 
busy 40m band.  It also helps to find a clear frequency to call CQ on.

You are so right in taking a year to get use to the Yaesu menu system.  The 
Icom has the advantage of having a plain English menu instead of Alpha 
Numeric system like on the Mark V.  Once you go through the manual on the 
Pro III you can put it away.  I always kept my laminated cheat sheet nearby 
on the Yaesu.

All this radio/contesting stuff is so intriguing!  What you need is to have 
both rigs down there for awhile to see which one you like the best.  You 
might keep one for RTTY only and the other for CW or phone?  I don't think 
there is a prefect rig out there.  Some are better at certain things like 
phone and others better at CW, RTTY, etc.  More of this depends on what 
antenna system one has.  A large antenna farm like some contesters have may 
bring a need for a certain type of rig that a small pea shooter like me 
would not appreciate or need.

Then there is the psychological effect that I would never discount.  If you 
believe and have confidence that a certain brand of rig is better, my belief 
is you will do better on that rig.  Spec wise the TS-870 is not that good of 
a rig, but look how well Don did with it in RTTY contests.  Give Don an 
Inraded Mark V, he will still kick tail.  :-)

Always good to work you Dean!  If you are ever up in my woods please stop by 
to take the Pro III for a test drive.

73 de jay..

P.S.  I am just glad to finally master F8 in the last contest!

>
> Interesting points Jay.
>
> You're right about the Inrad filters of course. I've spent a small fortune
> on those along with the roofing filter.
>
> I am suspecting both from your comments and those of Don, the peak filter 
> is
> truly a plus in the ProIII. I would probably need to use to better
> appreciate their value.
>
> In fairness, even though I now do more RTTY than any other mode, 
> originally
> I was more of an SSB contester, so maybe some of my bias is grounded 
> there.
>
> In the end, the most important thing is having a rig that you can use at
> optimum. It took me I'd say a year before I truly understood the FT1KmpMK5
> series really well. Now I could close my eyes and do nearly anything with
> this rig.
>
> I have both a field and the 200w version and interestingly, initially I
> liked the field slightly better but I blew out the front-end of the 200
> watter maybe a year ago. When it returned it was so much better than the
> field, that I have been planning to send the 'field for an alignment
> check-out.
>
> Sometimes I wish I was based Stateside, so I could try-out more gear, 
> where
> there is a much more active market for used gear. As it is, it's now very
> difficult to sell any of my stuff on the local used market.
>
> C'est la vie.
>
>
> Regards and see you in the pile-ups,
>
>
> Dean - 8P6SH / 8P2K
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On
> Behalf Of Jay Bromley
> Sent: October 23, 2006 3:11 AM
> To: dsthill at cbcbarbados.bb; rtty at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [RTTY] ic756proIII
>
> Hi Dean and RTTY gang,
> I had a Mark V Field with over $1200 of Inrad filtering ( including the
> roofing filter ) and it is no match against the Pro III on RTTY.  The only
> thing I missed going to the Pro III is the ability of splitting out the
> audio into the headphones while working split chasing DX.  I have learned 
> to
>
> use the Dual Watch, but I do not like it as much as Yaesu's sub receiver
> combo.  The Mark V Field was only good for 50 watts on RTTY,  This doesn't
> matter when you have an amp, but I like the extra headroom the Pro III has
> at 100 watts.
>
> Using a Pro III on a RTTY contest you get the double hump filter for RTTY
> plus the band scope that Mark V doesn't have.
>
> Just though I would comment since I have owned both.  The Yaesu was a good
> rig when I added the Inrads, but it was a poor rig out of the box.  After
> the Inrads were installed in the Yaesu, both rigs would copy signals S-0
> near the noise floor and both did great with loud signals nearby like in a
> contest.  Let me say after using both side by side, I sold the Mark V 
> Field
> and kept the Pro III.
>
> 73 de w5jay/jay..
>
>
>
>
>> Hi Don and other RTTYers
>>
>>
>> I'm still convinced you're missing out by not having an FT1000mpMK5 or
>> field.
>>
>> Admittedly I haven't used a ProIII but have used the original Pro and the
>> ProII and wasn't as happy on RTTY or any mode. I do admit I liked the
>> bells
>> and whistles for more casual operating.
>>
>> Don - One day you must use one of these rigs for rtty - we'll convert you
>> yet!!!!
>>
>>
>> Dean - 8P6SH
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Don Hill AA5AU" <aa5au at bellsouth.net>
>> To: <rtty at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 7:43 PM
>> Subject: Re: [RTTY] ic756proIII
>>
>>
>>> Thanks Dean.  More specifically, the link is:
>>>
>>> http://www.rttycontesting.com/icom756proiii/icom_ic756proiii_index.htm
>>>
>>> Yes, I like this radio very much.  It's the best radio I've ever
>>> operated.
>>> I've not operated any of the $10k radios yet, but you
>>> just can't go wrong with a PRO III.
>>>
>>> 73, Don AA5AU
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] 
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Dean St. Hill
>>> Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 6:35 PM
>>> To: rtty-bounces at contesting.com; rtty at contesting.com
>>> Subject: Re: [RTTY] ic756proIII
>>>
>>> Hi Robert
>>>
>>> Check our Don's site (AA5AU) - He uses this rig and I believe he likes 
>>> it
>>> a great deal.
>>>
>>> www.rttycontesting.com
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>>
>>> Dean
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Robert" <tf3tty at internet.is>
>>> To: <rtty at contesting.com>
>>> Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 7:14 AM
>>> Subject: [RTTY] ic756proIII
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Gang
>>>>
>>>> Is it a good idea to get a 756pro III from Icom.
>>>>
>>>> can anyone out there tell me if it's a good radio in performance.
>>>>
>>>> regards robert TF3TTY
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> RTTY mailing list
>>>> RTTY at contesting.com
>>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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>>
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>
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