Quantifying radio performance
 

I don't know much, so my comments could be in left field.:c)

Is there a need or would it be helpful for performance to be measured
according to a baseline?

You set a baseline fore technical specs that amount to "good peformance".

In the review you say (by simple yes or no) whether at least the RX meets
that performance.

Ie, you set a baseline for "Good FM performance".

Sensitivity: 2uV (Whatever)
Bandwidth: 200 Khz (Whatever)
Image rejection: 60dB (Whatever)
Cross Modulation: Oh gosh no idea. :c)

Since I'm after at least good performance, maybe I could at least benefit by
such a simple table.:c)

The bench marks have already been made. Read more reviews, especially those of
ham transceivers, eventually you'll get a feeling for the numbers.

jw
wb9uai

J999w wrote:
The bench marks have already been made. Read more reviews, especially
those of ham transceivers, eventually you'll get a feeling for the
numbers.

jw
wb9uai

Aaah, but I want it doing for me.:c)

I want someone to agree on a baseline as to what would be "good" specs and
to see in a review something like:

Results against standard baseline performance figures:

FM
Met baseline
Sensitivity: Above
Bandwidth: Yes
Image rejection: Yes
Cross Modulation: Below

A quick table to see at a glance whether the sets specs are good or below,
or better.

I can look at the actual specs after I've cycled thru the quick-read
tables.

But that's already done. If you read the reviews they will say " the ultimate
image rejection is 90db which is excellent, or 70db which is fair". You just
have to read enough of them to get the hang of it.

Or toss us some examples of radios and we'll tell you what we think !

:^]

jw
wb9uai

In article ,
(J999w) writes:


Or toss us some examples of radios and we'll tell you what we think !

:^]


Excellent Idea;

http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/rx_testing.html


On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 08:39:44 -0000, "Richard"
wrote:

I don't know much, so my comments could be in left field.:c)

Is there a need or would it be helpful for performance to be measured
according to a baseline?

You set a baseline fore technical specs that amount to "good peformance".

In the review you say (by simple yes or no) whether at least the RX meets
that performance.

Ie, you set a baseline for "Good FM performance".

Sensitivity: 2uV (Whatever)
Bandwidth: 200 Khz (Whatever)
Image rejection: 60dB (Whatever)
Cross Modulation: Oh gosh no idea. :c)

Since I'm after at least good performance, maybe I could at least benefit by
such a simple table.:c)

"Richard" wrote in message ...
I don't know much, so my comments could be in left field.:c)

Is there a need or would it be helpful for performance to be measured
according to a baseline?

You set a baseline fore technical specs that amount to "good peformance".

In the review you say (by simple yes or no) whether at least the RX meets
that performance.

Ie, you set a baseline for "Good FM performance".

Sensitivity: 2uV (Whatever)
Bandwidth: 200 Khz (Whatever)
Image rejection: 60dB (Whatever)
Cross Modulation: Oh gosh no idea. :c)

Since I'm after at least good performance, maybe I could at least benefit by
such a simple table.:c)

Dunno...I can tell you what my IC-706mk2g specs are, except I don't
see the cross mod listed so far in the manual...

On mine, FM is usable anywhere, but of course I only actually use 10m
up...
On 10m "29mhz" , the sensitivity is .5uv.
On 6m "50mhz" , the sensitivity is .25uv
On 2m "144mhz" and also 70cm "440mhz" , the sensitivity is .18uv.

The stock FM bandwidth on mine with no filters selected is
more than 12khz/-6db
less than 30khz/-60db
I can narrow it some with the stock "NAR" filter, but I leave it wide
most all the time.

Image rejection on the hf bands is 70db. On VHF/UHF it's 65db.

I don't know how that compares to a high end model, but these are
quite usable specs. Better than most scanners I bet. I know it's
better than the rat shack scanner I have. It's plenty sensitive on
VHF/UHF. It's just a slight bit worse as far as local intermod than my
yaesu ft-2500m, which is a pretty bulletproof 2m radio. But the single
band yeasu doesn't work longwave to UHF like the 706 does..So I
actually expect the 706 to be a bit worse in that dept..
It's still not bad though. I have it on a 3 el yagi at 35 ft. If
intermod were really a problem, I would be seeing it. In comparison,
my wideband VHF/UHF yaesu ft-470 handheld goes crazy during the day
with intermod if it's on that beam and all the repeaters are going at
once. The only time I've ever noticed it on the 706 was when mobile
while driving through downtown, office buildings, pager sites, etc..No
biggie...Hard to avoid. MK