Telamon,

That was a good point you made earlier about the author's insistence on
using filters 4 kHz for SSB. I clearly missed that. I think it's only fair
though that we note it was dxing.info that gave the article the presumptive
title "Comparing Four Great Communications Receivers... Testing the top
receivers". Jan Alvestad just called it "Comparison Test" when he sent me
the piece, prior to it appearing on the web.

I personally think the RX340 is easy to operate. At the last Grayland
DXpedition June 9-11 I DX'ed with one alongside my modded Racal and ICOM
receivers. it was very intuitive to use, at least for the DX targets I was
tuning (Aussie & So. Pacific mediumwave and some tropical band
broadcasters).

Over 15 years of DXing from the WA coast I've found that all of the
"serious" receivers have performed within an eyelash (or two) of each other
for foreign mediumwave and tropical band DX. We use good splitters like
Stridsberg, Mini-Circuits and the like, as well as high-IP3 preamps
distributing RF from the Beverage antennas. We make each installation as
RF-sanitary as possible. So, each receiver typically gets the same signals
as the others, allowing for fair comparisons.

As I think back over many, many receiver comparisons and discussions during
these DXpeditions, there isn't a single receiver that stands out in my mind
as being *clearly*, indisputably the king-of-the-hill. One or another might
detect audio on a faint signal a couple minutes before another rig, but by
the time the signal is strong enough to begin revealing discernable details
(IDs, etc.), all the top-grade receivers are providing useful audio also.

In this DXpedition environment, I think the real differences come down to:

-propagation at the moment
-antenna(s) in use
-skill & patience of the DXer
-luck!

If I was forced to name a top-dog receiver among those models I've listened
to at Grayland over the years, it would be a foursome: Collins HF-2050, WJ
HF-1000 (or equiv. 8711A), Ten-Tec RX340, and Winradio G303i. Note that
these are all IF-DSP receivers! To my ears, they provide a slight but
noticeable edge in audio recovery (readability) in really tough DX
situations.

In a typical suburban, high-RF environment with local MW & other
broadcasters nearby, the digital frontends of these four rigs might wilt. In
this case I'd place my bets on the AR7030 and other all-analog receivers
with excellent close-in dynamics. My friend's Elecraft K2 transceiver would
also likely do very well amidst strong signals (if it could have general
coverage capability :^) My modded R75 and RA6790GM receivers have no
problems with my Beverage antennas in the city, either.

Anyway, keep up the good discussion on receivers. I almost forgot it was
rec.radio.shortwave for a while!

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA



"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article , starman
wrote:

Mike Terry wrote:

Testing the top receivers: TenTec RX340, AOR AR7030, Racal RA1772 and
Icom
IC-R75. Which of these fine communications receivers is the best at
locations with strong nearby transmitters? Find it out in a new
article
(PDF) by Jan Alvestad.

http://www.dxing.info/

Those four receivers are hardly the only top ones. Does he plan to
review some of the other high end receivers?

I don't care if he does. I thought the reviews were a little odd in what
he wanted the radios to do and found some of the information to be
misleading. I certainly disagree with his conclusions.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California