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dxAce · March 2nd 08, 07:45 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

wrote:

dxAce raised the point that he would prefer to upgrade to a 1000 foot
antenna rather than upgrade to a better radio. This is a bit like
which came
first? the chicken or the egg? I have had extensive experience of
using
1000ft longwires or beverage antenna's on my DXpeditions over the
years and
indeed they do pull in the signals something awesome. But they also
pull in
more interfering stations that want to blot out your faint DX target,
and
also whatever QRM/RFI noise is floating around, they pull more of that
in
too.

So at the end of the day it still means it is better to DX with a top
end
radio that suppresses and minimises the offending signals and QRM that
are
interfering with your faint DX target.

Over the years I gradually upgraded my radio's to what I thought was
the
ultimate, a Drake R8B. I was quite satisfied with that until I was
loaned a
Rohde & Schwarz. Although the R & S did not have any more bells and
whistles
than my Drake, it was so clearly superior to my R8B that from then on
I
hankered after a better radio. The R&S just pulled in faint stations
that
did not even register on the R8B and then was also better able to
resolve to
audibility stations that were interfered with much better than the
R8B.

So I watched developments and then my good friend Guy pointed me
towards the
Icom IC-756PROIII, which I later acquired. This radio was indeed
better than
my R8B, see:
http://www.dxing.info/equipment/icom_ic756_plimmer.dx
So the 756Pro3 has really proved itself in the field, culminating in
the
catch of a lifetime: 1410 Khz, CFUN, Vancouver BC, Canada, some 14,000
miles
away from the Seefontein DX site.

That would be longpath then, pretty good.