Wow, what a weekend. I dabbled off & on in the SS 'test. Got to listen
to my 3 rigs and compare them head to head under tough conditions.
After extensive listening with all 3, the K2 has emerged as the clear
winner in the group. It stood head & shoulders above the other two in
the way it handled the crowded / loud band conditions.
830s. I spent a couple of hours with this rig. Mine has both 500 Hz IF
filters for the "ultimate" in selectivity. Tuning across 40 meters
there were many signals S9 and above. With the 830s set for it's most
narrow selectivity, I could typically hear 2 or more signals at the same
time. I could obviously copy the one that was centered, but I'd hear
the bleeps of other signals that reminded me there was a powerhouse just
a few hundred Hz away. The rig was also producing a lot of thumping in
the headphones. Background noise level was annoyingly high all the
time. The AGC made sure that the static would rise to the level of the
signal. All in all, it helped to generate a sense of urgency in me as
it was clear that I was in a crowded noisy band and needed to really
concentrate to work the weaker stations.
2B - What a sweet receiver, but ... it was overpowered by the
conditions. With the IF filter set to 500 Hz and the Q-multiplier on
the verge of feeding back, I could get some very (very, very) nice
sounding CW but there were always a couple of signals in there with the
one I wanted, creating QRM and affecting the AGC. As I tuned around the
area above the CW "party" I heard some general grunge in the RX. I
believe it was generated by having so many strong signals just 10 KHz
down the band. Weak signals were tough to hear / copy.
K2 - Hey, what happened to the band? Background noise was much lower.
Signals were suddenly spread out with space between them. The thumping
noises went away, weak ones were easily copied next to strong ones. The
K2 handled the weekend activities with grace and style. Selectivity
exceeded that achieved by the 830s with twin filters. There was no
grunge or funny artifacts, just clean CW nicely spaced across the band.
I never had an issue with QRM or listener fatigue due to background
noise with this rig.
- Keith KD1E -
- K2 5411 -
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