David wrote:

I think you answered your own questions, several times over.

So, this still means you think everyone should go out
and buy an old tube radio, even if it's not a R-390?

FYI, a well maintained aligned R390A in a stable environment can be
tuned within 300 Hz of a target frequency and will drift less than
half that figure over 24 hours.

Sorry. Not good enough...I used to get anal cuz my 830's
internal VFO drifted 40 cycles with A/C cycling off and on..
Even thats enough to require retuning of a SSB signal.
Thats why I went to the VFO-230 on the 830, which drifts nada..
My 706 will tune within 1 hz of a target frequency as far
as readout...If you count slewing error thoughout the HF
spectrum, the max error might be hummmm, 1-20 cycles depending
on the freq being used...Being I calibrate the radio at 10mhz,
and say I'm on 40 meters, the error will be under 5 cycles.
And I don't even have the hi-stab xtal...It could be
even better, if I wanted to spend a lil more $$$.
Within 300 hz of a target freq? Man, that's pitiful
for the year 2005...
Drift? If the room temp is stable, the icom has no real
drift. Not enough to ever require retuning SSB anyway.
You'll be a long ways off from me, if you drift 150 hz
in a day. Same applies to the kenwood using the external
VFO.

You may have dynamic range, but your readout and
stability are fairly lame to my standards..



There ain't a $10 transistor made with the dynamic range of a tube
designed for small signal RF amplification.

Doesn't really matter if dynamic range is not a really much
of an issue to begin with...MK