[Elecraft] Comparison of the K2 to the Ten Tec Orion in Europe RF environment

[George, W5YR]

A more honest comparison would have been to use an Icom 746PRO instead of
the IC-746 that was used and called a "PRO." Even better would have been to
use the real IC-756PRO2.

The 746 is a generation removed from the current IF DSP architecture of the
746PRO and of the PRO2. It uses conventional crystal filters in the IF, not
DSP. The real 746PRO would have fared much, much better than his report
indicates. It is unfortunate that now the 746PRO will erroneously be held as
greatly inferior to the ORION when in some respects it would probably
perform as well.

I use both the 746PRO and the PRO2 and in some areas the 746PRO outperforms
the PRO2; its front end is as good or better. It lacks some of the features
of the PRO2 but has a superior IF DSP system using a newer generation DSP
chipset. The filter responses are better with lower shape factors and about
15 dB more ultimate attenuation in the stop bands.

For a $1400 radio (with PS-125 power supply and free shipping) it is the
most performance for the dollar on the market today.

73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13QE
"Starting the 58th year and it just keeps getting better!"
w5yr@att.net





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Greene" <W1CG@qsl.net>
To: "Stuart Rohre" <rohre@arlut.utexas.edu>; "elecraft"
<elecraft@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Comparison of the K2 to the Ten Tec Orion in Europe
RF environment


> Stuart,
>
> Nice report.  I don't want to detract anything from the evaluation that
> DJ0IP and DL8OH made; However, they made a point of how high steep
> the  learning curve for the Orion was.  I would just like to note that the
> K2 has a learning curve too, to operate it to get the best performance.
In
> particular, if you do not have the CW filters optimized (by the use of
> Spectrogram), or use the best filters for the task at hand, you can lose
> many dB of signal.  Earl, who probably knows how to operate the K2 to best
> advantage, had contrary results when conducting head to head comparisons
> between the Orion and the K2.
>
> Nice to note that the best receivers are of US design.
>
> At 03:36 PM 11/25/2003, Stuart Rohre wrote:
> >Folks, this is one of the best reviews and head to head tests I have
seen.
> >
> >The K2 comes off a lot better than another import ; although the far more
> >expensive Orion shines best of all.  But, what a tribute to the designers
of
> >the K2 that they can go head to head to a much more complicated/
expensive
> >radio!
> >www.bavarian-contest-club.de/reviews/orion_on_the_air_test_v2.pdf
> >
> >-Stuart
> >K5KVH