A comment about Receiving
Posted by
Richard Fjeld on
Mar 28, 2011; 6:05pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/A-comment-about-Receiving-tp6216105.html
For me, receive capability was an important factor, among others, in the decision to buy an Elecraft. The model is irrelevant to this post. For years, I have been studying comments made about receiving, as opposed to those who think a radio is 'good to the last watt'. Recently, there was a rather lengthy thread about whether a K3 user was having receive problems or not. I'd like to share an experience with the group.
Over the years, I have used coax fed antennas and lived with compromise SWR figures. I wanted an all-band antenna so I recently changed the 80 meter dipole so that it is center fed with homebrew 450 ohm ladder-line to a tuner. I use an MFJ Matchmaker (TM) to 'tune the tuner'. While it puts out a white noise, I tune for minimum S-meter reading. When finished, a quick transmit reveals the SWR.
One day while tuning close to optimum at the frequency I was on, and because I receive while I tune, I began to hear a weak CW signal. At first, I thought it had just come on frequency, but as I listened, I realized that the station had been in qso for awhile, but I didn't hear it until I reached optimum resonance with the tuner. I knew a resonant antenna was important, but I was surprised at the difference it could make in receiving. A good receiver is wasted if the signal doesn't get to it.
Richard Fjeld, n0ce
[hidden email]
I'd rather be learning.
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