[Lowfer] Accurate and stable receiving equipment

[Lyle Koehler]

I have the original IC-706 without the high-stability oscillator (TCXO)
option, and it works very well. However, reports from others using the
IC-706 MarkII and MarkIIG indicate that there is some frequency drift that
results from the cooling fan cycling on and off. The obvious cure would be
to bypass the thermostat and let the fan run continuously, as it does in the
original IC-706. I expect that the TCXO option would also cure the drift
problem.

I also have an IC-756PRO, which comes with a high-stability oscillator as
standard equipment. An expensive solution, but it's very stable. Another
radio that is surprisingly stable is my Icom IC-PCR1000 computer-controlled
receiver. So it's likely that many modern receivers and ham transceivers are
adequate even for very slow QRSS if used directly (without a converter), and
if warmed up and calibrated. Unfortunately there aren't any published
specifications that talk about the extreme stability requirements of some of
the modes used on LF.

Lyle, K0LR