Since October last year I have been without my top end antenna, the RF
Systems DX1 Pro. After six years of superlative performance it gave up the
ghost and had to be returned to mommy in Holland for repairs. It was
returned in December, but after only nine days, failed again, and again it
had to go back to Holland at great expense in shipping. So far it hasn't
returned and I am using my standby antenna, the PAORDT mini-whip.
Alas!, the PAORDT is not a great performer at all = very weak signal pickup
and attracts all the neighbourhood suburban noise, so the upshot is that my
Redsun RP2100 on it's internal antenna's nearly outperforms it, and
certainly does as far as noise is concerned. I can't use my Datong as that
has no pickup on LW and MW.
Hence the "ship without a mast", as my lovely Icom is near useless without a
decent antenna. It's just a lesson to all that a great receiver is worth
nothing without a decent antenna. You should not bother buying a tabletop
like the Icom R75 or anything upwards if you can't get a decent antenna
system up and going. You are just wasting your money and going to frustrate
yourself. If you can't get a good antenna then rather spend your money on a
decent portable like an Eton E1 or a Sony 7600GR and forget about a top line
tabletop.
After the DX1 packed up again, I had entertained the thought of ditching it
in favour of a Wellbrook ALA1530+plus, but several DX friends have them and
warned me the performance was likely to be not as good as my DX1, which is
superlative when it works = great signal pickup and extremely quiet. This
performance is in my area's of interest: longwave beacons, mediumwave and
tropical bands.
So in the meantime I wait with foetid breath and my finger up
my............... waiting for the DX1 to return.
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx