[Yaesu] Best $600 contest rig

[Jack/NA7RF]

There is plenty of data to support the conclusion that many of the older
ICOM rigs were better than their Kenwood or Yaesu counterparts in terms
of receiver performance. I just looked at the product review information
on the ARRL web site (members only section) and found four older rigs
(pre-1990) that have particularly good receiver specs. Those specs
include Minimum Discernible Signal (MDS), Blocking Dynamic Range (BDR)
and Intermodulation Distortion Dynamic Range (IMDDR). Those rigs are:
ICOM IC-720A, IC-730, and IC-740 and the Ten Tec Omni-D.

Comparing to the Kenwood rigs these were all better than any of them
excepting the TS-430S and TS-940S. Comparing them to Yaesu gear they
were all better than any except the FT-102 but the '102 had a poorer MDS
spec. The FT-980 and FT-ONE both showed "noise limited" specs for BDS
and IMMDR, which may or may not be better than the ICOM and Ten Tec
rigs, but I think they both go for in excess of the $600 price range
specified.

There *are* some surprisingly bad rigs out there like the SB-104 (I built
and used one so I can vouch for that!), the TS-520S (I use a '520 and
it's pretty dismal compared with the TS-930S I used to own) and the
FT-301S/D, among others! For serious contest purposes, especially in
high signal density areas, those BDR and IMMDR specs are pretty
important and it would be a good idea to do some research before buying.
In addition it would be a good idea to check on availability of
after-market filters for a given rig. INRAD lists filters for the ICOM
rigs mentioned above but not for the Omni-D. Unfortunately one can
spend as much in filters as the rig is worth but the improvement in
performance can be surprisingly significant.

All that being said, there may be other factors that come into play in a
contest environment, like CW keying quality at 40wpm or sidetone levels,
like Steve mentioned, or the availability of of bells and whistles like
IF bandpass tuning or IF shift.

Have fun browsing and selecting a rig!

Jack, NA7RF

BTW, I agree that the TR-7 had a problem. It's receiver is not
spectacular but the specs do not indicate that it would fold like that
under contest conditions.



Steve Harrison wrote:
> At 01:04 PM 9/24/2006 -0400, kd4e wrote:
>> Renee wrote:
>>> I would say a Drake TR7. I have used one for such in the past and it 
>>> performed quite well. Wouldn't mind having one again.
>>> 73
>>> Renee NZ9T
>> The Drake TR-7 was way ahead of its time and still
>> is a fine rig for about any Ham application!
> 
> I TRIED using one of those in a CW contest from a friend's place who had
> nice big yagis, back in the early '80s. It was super-deaf yet couldn't cope
> with big guns within a few kc, and I could barely hear the sidetone.