Greetings John..

Two things..

1) "I am a listener only and focus mainly on the LF and MW
bands."

Keeping in mind that:

"The ICOM IC-7700 was designed from the start to be the ultimate
contest transceiver."

Reference:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0277.html

At $6300 USD, probably more elsewhere with applicable taxes and
tariffs, there sure should be a less expensive alternative for
merely SWL! However, with BOTH a IC-756PRO III + IC-7700 merely
for SWL, little doubt some have more of a budget than others!

In any event, with THAT serious of a radio collection.

2) Consider:

Megahertz is defined as MHz, kilohertz as kHz and hertz as Hz. It
is, in fact, ALWAYS a capital "H" to pay homage to Mr. Heinrich
Hertz. The first letter of that last name IS capitalized and
always has been.
Consider: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/hertz.htm
or,
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.c...214263,00.html
or, http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/general/glossary.htm (click on
"M" or "J-K" - these folks should know the difference)

Further proof? Take a look at www.fcc.gov and note their
frequency references. In addition, simply take a look at a stereo
dial, clock radio or even your transistor radio and notice how
the manufacturers abbreviate frequency.

Cheers,
Mr. Mentor



wrote in message
...
| Icom IC-7700 initial impressions.
|
| Your first impression when the deliveryman brings it is it's
HUGE - a
| giant box weighing in packed at 37kgs/80 lbs. It is double
boxed and
| extremely well packed. It takes two of you to unpack it and get
it in
| place in the shack. Setting up may be difficult for anyone not
| familiar with the Icom 756 PRO range, as it has a huge 216 page
| instruction manual and takes some time to go through it and get
| familiar with all the functions and numerous "bell's and
whistles".
| However, if you already owned a 756PRO series you will find
setting up
| much easier as many of the functions follow the same format.
|
| I am a listener only and focus mainly on the LF and MW bands.
| I have had it for several days now and feel more familiar with
it and
| have given it a really good thrash in some productive quiet
early
| morning pre-dawn sessions.
| It is very quiet compared to the already quite quiet 756PROIII
that I
| have next to it connected for direct A/B comparisons through a
SP20
| speaker and common antenna.
| A major advantage for me is that the 7700 will engage both
pre-amp 1
| and 2 in both LF and MW bands, whereas this is not possible on
the
| 756. In addition pre-amp 1 is supremely quiet and can be
engaged with
| confidence in nearly all situations. This results in the
possibility
| to render audible some very faint stations that are not audible
on the
| 756. In addition pre-amp 2 can also be engaged usefully on MW
and LF,
| even though the instruction manual recommend it's use only
above 20
| Mhz.
|
| The action of the filters on the 7700 is superb, as when
selecting a 2
| Khz setting and engaging the 3 Khz roofing filter. Working the
| difficult 9/10 Khz MW splits is a breeze and gives results
appreciably
| better than the 756PRO.
|
| Using the pre-amps and the tight filters I was able to render
several
| very weak Brazilians audible that the 756 couldn't get. Plus on
LF I
| found the ASN Ascension Isl. NDB beacon, extremely faint but
readable
| with a 50 Hz filter and pre-amp 1 on. You could hear it faintly
on the
| 756, but could not really render it readable.
|
| The NR noise reduction feature on both radio's seems to be the
same,
| but the NB noise blanker is a dream on the 7700, as it is
adjustable
| for both width and depth. On the 756 the NB will only zap the
| infrequent ignition noise you get today, but the 7700 will in
addition
| zap all sorts of suburban electrical pulses = lovely feature.
|
| The 7 inch scope is lovely, much clearer and larger than the
756 and
| covers a much greater span - 5 khz to 500 khz in several steps.
|
| So I am very happy with the 7700 and it seems a very worthwhile
| upgrade and money well spent. Don't misunderstand me, the
756PROIII is
| a very good radio, it is just that the 7700 is superb and a
marked
| improvement.
| __________________________________________________ _____
|
| Of course if you only listen to the AM SW bands then you will
probably
| do very well with a setup like Burr has, but if you want to do
serious
| Trans Atlantic and Trans Pacific MW DX then you need a top line
| receiver.
|
| John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
| South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
| Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
| Drake SW8. ERGO software
| Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
| BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
| Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
| Kiwa MW Loop.
| http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx
|
|