[Elecraft] Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

[k6rb at baymoon.com]

Numbers are, at best, a data point. Back in the late 1970s I was a
reporter for an electronics industry trade newspaper. At the Consumer
Electronics Show in Vegas, that year, I visited an area called "esotheric
audio." In one room there was a very sophisticated looking turntable,
preamplifier, amplifier and speaker set up. Between the speakers, on a
table, was an oscilloscope. The guy told me the THD was 0.1 % to which I
replied "but the human ear cannot distinguish a THD much below 1 %." And
he replied, "of course, you can't hear it, that's why we have the
oscilloscope." The price for the system was in excess of $10,000.

My point is numbers are not the "be all, end all." I've had Yaesu gear,
and I remember, with horror, my bad experiences with Yaesu service. I also
remember how bad the audio monitor sounded when I operated phone. Last
year, I sold two Yaesus and bought two K3s. Trust me, had I known there
would be an FT-5000 coming, and its specs were comparable to K3, I would
not have deferred the purchase and considered the 5000.

73,

Rob K6RB

>
> Some people here on the reflector have already stated this...but what do
> the
> numbers from the Sherwood web site really mean?  Are these numbers so
> close
> together that you just start picking nits?
>
> Two guys want to buy a vehicle.  One went to Ford, the other went to
> Chevy.
> (You can see where this is going)
>
> They can look at the vehicle...sit in it...turn the knobs on the
> dash...but they
> cannot run the engine or take it out for a test spin.  (Just like we
> cannot take
> a rig on a test spin - we can look at them in hamfests, but we can't take
> one
> home for a week to really give it a test drive.)
>
> So, these two guys take a look at the specs between the two cars.  They
> have the
> "numbers."  The only real difference is 1 inch on the wheel base, one car
> has 5
> more cubic inches of displacement, and one has 10 more horse-power than
> the
> other.
>
>
> They both have nice paint, finish, chrome, and all the basics one needs
> for a
> car...4 wheels, steering wheel, AC, power this and that, and automatic
> transmission.  Just a few things are different.
>
> Price is different...the Ford cost $5,000 more than the Chevy.
>
> So one guy picks the Ford and the other pics the Chevy?  Why?  One
> certainly
> costs less but the specs are "oh so close"
>
> As ham radio operators...are we that competitive that every DB of this or
> that
> matters?  What do the numbers really mean?  All this is lost to me because
> of
> "the noise of the numbers."  Where does operating skill come in?
>
> Now, look on down the Sherwood list and you see some older rigs coming in
> pretty
> good.  Have we lost perspective in this number numbing battle for the best
> receiver?  The Drake 4C looks pretty good.  The 765 looks good too.
>
>>From my perspective...the K3 is the best rig I have ever owned...it beats
>> my
> Ocean Hopper, my NC57, my HR-10B, my HW100, my TS520, 820, 830, 850, my
> .....
> and the list goes one.  Remember from whence we have come!
>
> Numbers....the din is deafening!
>
> Lee - K0WA
>
>
>  In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you
> don't
> have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you can't
> find any
> Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense.  Is
> Common
> Sense divine?
>
> Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my
> mind.
> -  J. Wolf
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