Topband: Receivers

[Ford Peterson]

I recently acquired a new MKV.  My 'other' radio is an IC746 (not pro).  Given the budget constraints of <$1K, the 746 is not a bad radio at all.  In fact, next to the stock MKV, I'd take the 746 on Topband.  Admittedly, I need to get the new Roofing filter mod done (won't be here until mid December) on the MKV, and without the IF mod, the MKV collapses.  I'll reserve final judgement until I get all the mods done on the MKV.  So far, the MKV is a big yawn by comparison.  The QSK on the 746 runs circles around the MKV.

The 746 has an exceptional MDS.  I can hear the flames already.  Why the heck do you need MDS on topband?  The 746 falls apart when you turn on either of the two preamps (MDS -143dBm).  Turn off the preamps and put in the attenuator (~10dB-15dB), and it's a pretty rugged front end during contests.  Add filters to both IFs, and clamp it down to 80Hz 'peaking' DSP on the real weak ones or deep pile-ups, and you can hear stuff down in the noise that is quite unbelievable.  On the beverage, the 746's MDS becomes pretty important for weak signal work.  And the 746 uses the IC781's VFO topology.  The VFO is excellent--very versatile for a single receiver radio.  There are many parts of the 746 that I miss when running the MKV.  And you don't have to do 14 modifications to make it work right.  What is missing in the 746 is the extra receive antenna port, the second receiver, and two mods...

746 lowband mod (simple and reversible)
Plug-in filters in both IFs (standard ICOM IF)

For the money, the original 746 is an excellent 160M-2M radio (If you can pry one out of somebody's hands).

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com