[1000mp] Subjective Comparison of FT 2000 to Mark V

[Scott Manthe]

John,
There is no way to adequately  judge the performance of a rig as complex 
as the FT-2000 by playing with one in the  store.
The QST review states this plainly, which is why the reviewers don't sit 
down in the showroom and do the review.
I quote, from the QST review, by Joel Hallas, W1ZR, QST's Technical 
Editor, "This is a radio you need to spend time getting to know and 
love. It seems easy to get going and make contacts, but that's just the 
beginning! There are many subtle operating skills that will be gained 
over time as you carefully note how this radio plays."

So, the technical editor of QST needed to take time to figure out how to 
use the FT-2000 well enough to write a review, but you could glean 
everything you needed to know to post your impressions from 20 minutes 
in the showroom?

Think about it for a minute: Did you figure out in a "brief use" how to 
most effectively use all of the features of your Mark V Field? I 
certainly didn't. In fact, I've owned three over the years, and still 
find new ways of making mine work better. The FT-2000 has all of the 
features of the Field and quite a few more, so it might be best to 
actually give this rig some time before posting a review.

The FT-2000 might indeed need tweaking, but it's probably not something 
you can tell by playing with one at the store.

73,
Scott, N9AA

John, W3ULS wrote:
> Hi, Mike:
>
> I can offer two cents based on a brief use of an FT-2000 at HRO 
> Woodbridge.
>
> In short, not ready for prime time. There were crackles and pops (CW 
> mode) when using the filters, notch, and noise reduction together. My 
> feeling was that the software is not yet refined. I never had a 
> 756PRO, but I did own a 756PRO III, where virtually all of the DSP 
> artifacts reported by users of the earlier versions had disappeared. 
> (I sold it because I still like my mostly analog Mark V Field :-))
>
> My sense is that the present 2000 is in the same category as the 
> original 756PRO and will require continuing tweaking by the 
> Vertex-Standard engineers to eliminate the artifacts.
>
> 73,
> John, W3ULS
>