[TenTec] How to Hear the Weak Ones,

[Duane A Calvin]

For a little different point of view . . . 

As someone who has been DXing now for about 15 years in apartments,
condo's and now my own home on a small city lot, I place the receiver
higher on the list - like #2 after antennas.  For those with space
restrictions, antennas are always going to be a challenge.  With the
advent of the packetcluster, the span of time from when a rare DX station
gets on and when the pileup develops is in the "less than a minute"
range, and so the challenge of QRM, some of it very loud, and its
associated problems (images, clicks, etc., etc.) are very real.  Worse, 
for small lot or low profile antenna operators, those antennas often end
up being verticals, or inverted vee's that act like verticals.  An
omnidirectional pattern means you don't get to use your antenna to filter
out a lot of the QRM like a yagi/quad operator will.  I made my move from
a highly modified IC-765 to the Omni VI+ back in '97, and a new world of
being able to "hear thru the crud" opened up for me.  The later upgradt
to an Orion, however, was not nearly as great a bang, although with the
AGC adjustability and the later firmware's RF Gain action definitely has
a lot of usefulness.  These days my problem has become one of hearing
through the local noise.  I never see less than S3 man made noise.  So,
the better receiver may or may not help me deal with that, depending on
the noise type.  The Orion, again with all its adjustability and both HW
and SW noise blankers helps a lot, but my next improvement (other than
defying neighbors and erecting a tower) will be to move to a quieter
location!

        73,  Duane  (312 worked / 305 cfm'd and 7BDXCC with an HF2V
80m/40m vertical as biggest antenna used)


On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:37:40 -0800 (PST) Lee A Crocker
<lee_crocker at yahoo.com> writes:
> Bill,
> 
> Nice show, but do you really think RX choice is not
> material, especially for those of us on less than 20
> acres (my limiting factor)?  
> 
> I would be interested in your ordered list of station
> characteristics from highest priority to lowest.
> 
> My guess first on the list of how to hear the weak
> ones is location.  Then what? 
> 
> 73  W9OY 
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Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas