Well said Bart, my good DX mate Gary Deacon
http://www.capedx.blogspot.com/
has just made a major upgrade from a Yaesu FRG-7 to an Icom R71E. He
is just as thrilled with his upgrade as I am to my 7700. = different
tricks for different dicks!

Whew! lugging around a 50 lb 7800 is no joke - he must be a VERY good
friend!
Ya! there is often no rationale behind our hobby choices. It is
interesting to read the many eHam reviews and see guys justify their
very expensive new gear. It needs a professional reviewer to bring
balance into these new offerings.

Take the "NR" noise reduction function on the Icom IC-7700 for example
- various fella's have lauded this as the best thing since bubblegum,
but in my several weeks of comparison with my 756PROIII side by side I
find it just as good.

So you are dead right, the law of diminishing returns very much
applies, as in he toughest of DX situations the 7700 is only
marginally ahead of the 756PROIII, but the difference IS there as are
very many more convenient bells and whistles.

Enjoy your radio's and have fun and good DX.

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

On Jun 14, 6:43*pm, Bart Bailey wrote:
In

posted on Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:59:49 -0700 (PDT),
wrote: Begin *

you might consider the Icom IC-756PROIII - it
makes a dam fine receiver at the price.

Yes it is.
Here in my noise infested inner-city QTH, I was curious just how close
to the state of the art I would actually be able to experience, so I had
a friend bring his IC-7800 over and put it on my antenna. The amount of
reduction, even with the ANC-4, didn't leave any more useful signal than
my P3, so I figure I'm already at or beyond the point of diminishing
return. I imagine the 7700 (which I'd love to have) wouldn't justify
itself. But then again, not all hobby related expenses do. g