[Elecraft] Receivers

[N2EY@aol.com]

In a message dated Tue, 21 May 2002 �7:42:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time, "Jerry W. O'Dell" <jwodell@provide.net> writes:

>You know, I'm a ragchewer, and I just like to talk to people.

Me too!
>
>Yet I hear all manner of discussion about super-low noise
>figures and suchlike, and people saying that their 775 is
>better than their ProII or vice versa.

Wish I had the $$$ to be able to make such comparisons.
>
>I would submit:
>
>(1) Without lab equipment, you simply can say such things.
>
>(2) Maybe you can't say it even with the good stuff. As I recall
>antenna noise is the ruling factor below somewhere about 21 mhz.

In most places, antenna noise dominates on HF below
about 20 MHz or so. 
>
>Personally, give me the 20 over S9 signal any day! I am so old
>that just S9 will do!
>
>No offense, and not aimed at anyone. But if you tell me that your
>781 is more sensitive than your FT1000D, in my book, you'd better
>have a dandy lab!

Sensitivity is just one measure. The Ancient Ones
had receivers that could hear the antenna noise below 10 MHz or so 75 years ago.

The main exception to the HF sensitivity game is
where small antennas are used or in very quiet 
locations.  

In today's HF environment, a receiver faces many 
challenges besides sensitivity. The numbers only
tell part of the story - you have to actually
USE a receiver to get the full impact. If an rx
is difficult to use or tiring to listen to, the
numbers mean nothing. Yes, many of these things
are subjective, but we do this for fun, remember.

--

There has been some discussion here about the cost
effectiveness of kit rigs, the FT-817 and other
rigs, resale value, etc. Here's my .02:

For many years I've been looking for a decent CW
rig. All I really wanted were the following:

- HF CW transceiver for most of the bands
- Good sensitivity and selectivity
- Good dynamic range
- Slow tuning rate (<5 kHz/turn) and nice dial
- RF gain control and defeatable AGC
- Good audio
- User-fixable - must not need a lab or parts made of unobtanium 
- Clean signal under all conditions
- Good ergonomics
- RIT
- Matches moderate SWR without an external tuner
- Low cost

For 20 years I could not find a single manufactured
rig that came anywhere close to meeting all the
requirements unless I spent well over $2000 new.
Under $1000, new? Nothing even came close. So I
built rigs out of junkbox parts and did pretty
well. 

Then I found out about the K2. 

73 de Jim, N2EY