Topband: Re: [Elecraft] K2 and Ten-Tec Orion

[k6se at juno.com]

I received the KDSP2 for my Elecraft K2 Monday, and have been A/B-ing it
with my FT-1000MP since Monday night.  With the unit's DSP filter set to
50 Hz (normal, not "soft") and and using NR1 with the beta set to 87 and
the decay set to 30, the K2 is marginally better than the FT-1000MP on
digging weak CW signals out of the mud on both 160m and 10m.  That puts
the K2 in first place, ahead of all other radios checked here.

Unlike the DSP NR on all other such radios which have DSP tested here,
the KDSP2 is the only one that seems to work effectively when using
extremely narrow filters on CW.  The improvement is more noticeable on a
noisy band such as 160m than it is on a quiet band such as 10m, but it
even helps there.  On SSB, the KDSP2's performance is phenomenal, making
weak SSB signals in the noise noticeably more copiable on the K2 than on
the FT-1000MP.

For both CW and SSB, the KDSP2's NR beta and decay settings for best copy
(for my ears) are 87 (the default) and 30 (default is 71) respectively.

These comparison tests are on-air tests receiving extremely weak signals
in the noise without any nearby strong signals on the band.  They are not
lab test results.  Here's the current list as I see it:

 1) Elecraft K2 (with KDSP2)
 2) Icom IC-746 PRO 
 3) Yaesu FT-1000MP (with INRAD mod)
 3) Elecraft K2 (w/o KDSP2 - tied for 3rd place)
 5) Yaesu FT-1000D
 6) Kenwood TS-830S
 6) Kenwood TS-870S (tied with the TS-830S)
 6) Kenwood TS-850S (w/500 Hz xtal filter)
 9) Yaesu FT-1000MP (without the INRAD mod)
10) Yaesu FT-920 (no CW filter, used hi-cut and low-cut to narrow)
11) Icom 746 (w/500 Hz xtal filter)
12) Yaesu FT-757
13) Icom IC-775DSP
14) Ten-Tec Omni VI+
15) Icom IC-756
16) Ten-Tec Orion

73, de Earl, K6SE