[1000mp] INRAD IF Amp vs. Roofing Filter wrt rcvr noise

[John Becker]

Lately I've been very active on 12M. There have been several very nice 
openings and many weak openings. Since 9/15 my 12M country count has 
gone from 50 to 125. Many of the stations I've been working are just 
barely out of the noise on CW, and I have the AF gain cranked all the 
way up and still need to really concentrate to copy them.

I know the INRAD IF amp is intended to reduce the amount of white noise 
for improved readability of weak signals, but I know it also degrades 
the receiver in strong signal situations. How does the roofing filter 
mod compare to an unmodified radio where weak signals are concerned? 
Does it add any gain at all? The INRAD web page doesn't address this, 
and I didn't find anything about it on VA3CR's site either. I'm only 
using an inverted Vee for the WARC bands, so I need all the sensitivity 
I can get for these weak stations on 12M.

73,

John, K9MM