[Elecraft] KX1 vs. FT-817

[Don Wilhelm]

When I compare 2 radios without using proper test equipment, for one thing I
consider is the radio's ability to hear the weakest of signals.  I use the
same antenna and tune one radio for a weak signal and then switch the
antenna to the other radio and see how well it receives that same signal.  I
continue that for some time searching for the weaker signals.

Loudness by itself is not a proper criteria, and often can be misleading -
it has too many dependencies, like how much raw audio power is available?
how is the AGC activation making a difference? how much noise is present in
the receiver? etc.

MDS measurements as described in the XG1 manual can be meaningful and do not
take a lot of equipment.  If the DMM is not capable of displaying a low
audio output level, a 'scope can be used in place of the DMM to measure the
AF voltage and give meaningful results.

73,
Don W3FPR


> -----Original Message-----
>
> Yes, two completely different animals.
>
> I recently bought an Icom IC-7000, my friend Dale got one and if it's
> good enough for him it's darned good. My impressions so far are,
> Darned Good! But, which would I rather have out on the park here on
> our Thursday lunchtime get-togethers? Probably the K1 I'm building.
> Which is easiest to pull out of a backpack, throw a wire up into a
> tree, and work some CW from the bluffs overlooking Maverick's? Sure I
> can take the 7000 places but it needs many lbs of batts.
>
> The original point was, Why was I able to hear so much more on my 817
> than on my KX1? And I think the conclusion was that I'd not built my
> KX1 right somehow, and some testing with a decent sig-gen and seeing
> if it would meet factory specs would have shown me that. 73 de Alex
> NS6Y.
>
>