[Elecraft] Now that we've covered roofing filters, a Q on sub-receivers

[n2ey at aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: john at ae5x.com

>As I understand it, the main purpose of a sub-rx is to allow diversity 
reception based on the fact that this 2nd receiver would be using a 
>different antenna than the main rx, correct?

No. That's just one use of a "sub" receiver. Here are some more:

1) When operating split, it lets you listen to your tx freq while the 
main rx listens to the other guy.
2) When contesting, you can park the sub rx on a rare one's pileup that 
you are trying to crack while the main rx is used to run a freq or to 
hunt & pounce new ones.
3) You can be operating on one band/mode with the main rx and use the 
sub rx to check out other band/modes' activity at the same time.

Yes, 1) and 2) can be done witrh judicious use of memories, A=B, SPLIT, 
RIT, XIT and other features. But a second receiver lets you do them 
*simultaneously*.

There are probably others I haven't thought of. Which one is most 
important depends on what kind of operating you do.

The sub/second receiver idea isn't new; the Ancient Ones were doing it 
a half century ago, but with truly separate receivers. In the '60s, 
Hallicrafters made some transceivers with "dual receive" but you needed 
the external VFO accessory, and what you got was the ability to listen 
to two freqs on the same band simultaneously, through the same rx chain.

73 de Jim, N2EY
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