Topband: Preferred Topband transceiver

[Joe Giacobello, K2XX]

  I have agreed with Steve on  his assessment of the 9000's contour 
control vs the 7800's APF in several other venues and continue to do so. 
  There is no difference between the 7800 and 9000 in MDS, but the 
9000's contour control is extremely effective in bringing weak signals 
out of the mud.  Its action is reminiscent of the old Heath QF-1 
Q-multiplier and it really makes a difference.  The downside of the 9000 
vs the 7800 is the DSP noise reduction.  Even after the 9000's PEP 
upgrade, the 7800's NR is far superior.  The response time of the 9000's 
DSP is just too sluggish to make it routinely useful.

I have tried diversity reception on 160M using a vertical and 344' 
doublet and didn't hear much to write home about.  I am going to try it 
again shortly with a dedicated RX array as one of the inputs.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the SDR-IQ in this discussion. 
I am using one as a panadapter and it's ability to discern signals down 
in the noise in either the 2D or waterfall display is remarkable. 
Often, although the signals are visible on the SDR-IQ's display, they 
are uncopyable or just barely copyable when tuned with the main RX. 
Given its price, it's an amazing piece of equipment.

73, Joe
K2XX

> The DX signals I am talking about are those which are JUST AT or bubbling
> BELOW the noise level. These are the very weak signals which are basically
> ESP and you would normally just tune by. ****For all signals ABOVE the
> noise, both radios could copy equally well.*****
> Those very weak signals at the noise will "pop" out when the APF is engaged
> on the FT-1000d, but will remain unreadable on the 7800 with or without the
> APF.
> I ended up adding an external AUTEK audio peak filter to the Icom to emulate
> the Yaesu APF, and was able to reproduce readability between
> radios.....hmmmm I'm adding a cica 1980's analog audio filter box to a $10k
> radio??
>
> By the end of year two, the IC-7800 was not being turned on, and the radio
> of choice was the FT-1000d, simply because for the weak ones, it was better.
> It didn't make sense to have a $10k radio sitting on the bench unused, so it
> was sold and has been replaced with the FT-dx-9000d which is now the only
> radio of choice. It does have an effective APF and can copy all signals
> equally to the old FT-1000d. Also, the FT-dx-9000D is perfect for diversity
> RX which is used all the time on 160m which is just like magic. I would
> never go back from using diversity RX on 160.
>
> Please understand, I have no interest in Yaesu or Icom. The IC-7800 was a
> great radio in all other regards with a fantastic "lab-quality" feel, great
> DSP and very solid front-end  (DSP noise reduction is better than the
> FTdx-9000), I had NO problems with the 7800...no final's problems etc.
> I DID NOT want to sell this radio and take a $4K loss by selling it on
> e-Bay, but for myself, this radio was deficient for very weak signal DXing.
> Over two years of testing, I found MANY MANY occasions when I could copy
> weak DX on the Yaesu, which were simply not readable on the 7800.
>
> I would NOT recommend this radio for weak signal DXing if you are looking
> for an effective APF.
> (yes I tried to communicate this to Icom and was met with a deafening
> silence)
>
> de Steve VE6WZ
> http://www.qsl.net/ve6wz/intro.htm
>
>
>
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