[Icom] IC-756pro2

Tue, 05 Aug 2003 00:05:16 -0700

Hi George,

Just to recall...there are links to various rise-time-related topics,
including your plots of keying spectra, on my Icom page.

http://www.qsl.net/ab4oj/icom/icom.html

Cheers for now, 73,
Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of George, W5YR
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 23:49
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Icom] IC-756pro2

My pleasure, Earl . . .

A friend found that the ORION memory keyer was so unreliable that it could
not be used due to the control processor running out of steam and missing
interrupts thereby corrupting the Morse character element stream. Had to use
an external keyer just to get decent code sent. At least the PROs will send
readable code and never miss an element, even if some of them are too short!
<:}

So, looks like the ORION blew it on both sides of the CW area.

73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13QE
"In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!"
<mailto:[email protected]>

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 12:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Icom] IC-756pro2

> Hi, George,
>
> Thanks for your reply about the 756pro2's keying waveform.  It's exactly
> the answer I was looking for.
>
> I listened on my FT-1000MP while sending a string of dits from the pro2
> and the CW bandwidth didn't change at all from a rise time setting of 2ms
> to 8ms, but it was a bit broad -- about +/-1kHz -- , apparently due to
> the sharp turn at the top of the waveform's leading edge that you
> mentioned.  That's still much better than the MP without the W8JI click
> mod.  I assume that the pro2's cw waveform shaping is done by DSP, so a
> hardware mod to fix the clicks is probably out of the question.
>
> The designer of the Orion made sure that its keying was clean, but
> unfortunately he's a phone man and doesn't fully understand the CW
> operator's requirements because that radio is terrible on weak CW signal
> DXing on both 160m and 10m.  I've never A/B'd another radio that was as
> bad as the Orion in that respect.
>
> To demonstrate what I mean by them not understanding the CW operator's
> needs, when I had the Orion I sent it back to the factory for repair
> because its xtal filters would not track its DSP filters when you changed
> the CW sidetone/spot pitch.  To fix it, they came up with an update to
> the firmware, i.e, all Orions had that problem!
>
> I was shocked when the radio was returned to me with a list of five
> hardware modifications they made on my week-old radio!  Obviously the
> beta testers didn't do their job.  They alleviated the audio whine
> problem, but it was still there after the mods.
>
> Anyway, I got tired of Ten-Tec's lip service about a radio I waited 9-1/2
> months
> for after I ordered it so I got a refund and used some of that money to
> buy a new pro2.  So far I'm happy with it.  It certainly is ergonomically
> better than the Orion and would beat the pants off of it in my A/B tests.
>  It's better than the MP on 10-meter weak CW signals and about equal to
> the MP on 160-meter weak signals.  Because it's audio is better than the
> MP, I give the pro2 the edge just like I did for the 746pro.  The best
> radio on both 160m and 10m is the Elecraft K2 with its KDSP2.
>
> About the only thing I miss on the pro2 is that 2nd VFO knob.  I've kinda
> solved that by using the dual-watch feature and cranking the balance
> control either fully CW or CCW depending on which "receiver" I want to
> listen on.
>
> Thanks again for the risetime answer.
>
> 73, de Earl, K6SE
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan W6OLD, [email protected]
> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.315 MHz
> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/

----
Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan W6OLD, [email protected]
Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.315 MHz
Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/