HF Transceivers - What do you get for your money Today?
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- Опубликовано: 20 янв 2021
- Did you know that the performance differences between HF radios are getting smaller and smaller. Does that mean that expensive radios are a waste of money? Make yourself a cup of tea or coffer and watch this 20 minute video that may give you a few surprises. We end up comparing the IC-7300 with the FT-DX10.
And whilst we have your attention, check out this Spy video that has had over 70K views in just a few weeks.
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I am in the USA. I wish I had a Waters and Stanton nearby. You come off as so helpful and ready to give that old school service with class. 73
Nice words Bill. Thanks for that. 73 Peter
Peter, you have the best auratory skills ever. You choose the best subjects for us hams.
At least he doesn’t whistle on the “s” sounds.
My Elmer always told me to look at the specifications but even more important for him was to listen to the radio, what does it sound like; in the end it´s a radio and I want to please my ears!
Many hams complain about listener´s fatigue, e.g in a contest with certain radios- so the audio coming from the speaker or headphones is very important for me.
I hear this question a lot. You made a lot of great points, new hams should definitely hear this.
Thanks for listening 73 Peter
You are surely a pleasant chap to listen to for hours! And smart too. If I lived there I would shop in your store 👍❤️
Nice words Dave. Many thanks. 73 Peter
Great video and very informative! It's good to know that all recent radios by the big players perform almost the same now. I'll be looking into the Yaesu FTDX10 some more the coming time... :-)
Thanks for viewing. 73 Peter
Excellent advice on how to choose a radio and why. Enjoy all of your videos Peter. 73
Many thanks! 73 Peter
Thank you for sharing the mother of all advices : perspective.
Morning Pete, just received my FTDX10 from you. What an advancement from my FT920. Fantastic purchase!! Keep the great videos coming!! Gary MW0YAE
Thanks, you too! Great to hear from you Gary. There’s a lot of radio there! 73 Peter.
After 40 years of procrastination I finally sat for and passed my Technician and General exams today! I am so excited.
I fully understand the camera comparison that you made and as an owner of Nikon and now the Fujifilm X-T4 it is not cheap. One fact that can be said is that if you put a nicer piece of glass (lens) on a $600 camera you can take photos that rival the $1800 camera. The combination of good glass and basic skills account for a huge part of photography.
I imagine there are similar comparisons with certain transceivers matched with decent antenna etc...
I do enjoy your channel and look forward to every new video that you post.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and expertise Peter.
God Bless and 73s.
Greg
Great to hear from you Greg and well done the new licence. Take care. 73 Peter
Nice video. Well laid out. Keep up the good work to keep the flow of information about ham radio out there.
All the best,
Larry
de K7HN
Thanks, you too! 73 Peter
Great video Peter as always. When I joined the hobby I worked my way up through a number of secondhand radios at first until I knew exactly what I was doing and what suited me for my interests. I think today there is a need for some entry level HF radios and also a number of “shack in a box” radios at various prices to suit different budgets.
Hi David. Great to get your comments. 73 Peter
Very nice and honest video, some great points
Thank you sir. Ive been trying to make a decision between two rigs. This helped me finally do that.
Many thanks Will. 73 Peter
Excellent video and thanks for the presentation of HF radios. I bought the IC 7700 some years ago and I regret it till this day. To many features that I will never use. Thanks again for a great video. Gordon DJONC.
Thanks for sharing Gordon. 73 Peter
Same here have a TS-990
Nice one Peter, again very educational video, that does help newcomers to at least take stock before spending money on a radio... had many radios over the years.... and can always tell when a new radio comes out... as for some reason... many hams seem set on telling you what radio they have before giving you a signal report... but hey...thats just life I suppose... for me... well I'm happy just to get on the radio... even if it is a 5/10/20 yr old one...stay safe..
Great to get your comments. You stay safe as well. 73 Peter
Hi Peter, yes I miss popping into the local Hockley shop. I bought my first Hf rig there and I am still using it.
hi Chris. Glad to know rgw rig still works. Take care. 73 Peter
Thanks for the video.
I just got into HF with the Icom IC 7300 but I got a S9 noise floor, I only became recently aware of this and was amazed with how quiet it was when used on a picnic on a cliff top.
I don’t think I can eliminate this at home, there is no standout appliance that causes it. I’ll discuss it with other club members.
A hobby is what you make it. Recently came back into the hobby, amongst other things, still using an FT747GX. Stay safe and well all. 73’s Geoff (G4SQJ).
Welcome back Geoff. 73 Peter
Great video. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
A great honest video, I think if possible may be best to concentrate on antenna , my first radio was a Yaesu ft 840 amazing value , I now use a Yaesu ft 950 again a very good value used radio, thanks for the great videos
Thanks for sharing. Agreed, the antenna is King 73 Peter
Used to love popping into the Hockley Store when I lived in Essex back in 80's and 90's. 73s
Hi Steve - yes we were there for 45 years but time moves on. I am 78 next month. 73 Peter
@@watersstanton Happy birthday in the future Peter. Well done. Wishing you well. de ON8EI John.
Bought my current ic706 2nd hand amongst many other scanners and antennas from Hockley store, shame it shut, miss having a local Ham store to browse not the same buying everything from the web.
As someone about to take his foundation exam I've been following your channel for a while now. It strikes me that amateur radio is no different to any other hobby, you can do it on a budget or you can throw silly amounts of money at it. I'm a lifelong motorcyclist and it's exactly the same with the same questions, which is the best bike and for me the answer is the one you're riding. A Ham friend of mine and his father, a radio operator for 70 years have been helping me learn. His dad has a new handheld DMR radio and loves it but at home he has gear he's been using for decades and it seems there isn't a corner of the globe he cannot reach. My mate jokes that he could pick up two scientists using hand held radios in Antarctica on an empty bean tin and a length of wet string. I think that the IC-705 will give me pretty much everything I think I want but I'm going to follow your excellent advice and start with a second hand radio and see how I get on.
Many thanks and good luck with your Foundation licence. 73 Peter
hi peter i have the ft 450 and it suits me fine. it is a good hf radio many thanks m3hnl
Agreed and shame no longer avaiable. 73 Peter
i have one too and they are a good radio i am very pleased with it
The DNR in the Yaesu FTDX-10 is interesting and looks to be a bit better than the 7300. But I bought the 7300 because of the user interface and the price difference. Icom recently announced they were going to have a new firmware upgrade for the 7300 and the marketing literature released at that time indicated they were going to update the firmware on a more regular basis. This is good news and hopefully that means the 7300 will continue to improve. The hybrid approach of the Yaesu is useful in dealing with noise and interference, so that's another factor that needs to be considered when deciding between the two, but the 7300 is what I bought. We'll see how that works out but I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping it a long time. Thank you for your calm, clear and rational videos. They're much appreciated.
This week ICOM announced the rekease of the new firmware. 73 Peter
The same is very true with cars. Getting from point A to point B. Performance is not a good indicator. The best indicator is called your bank balance. Thats where you really want the best performance! Thank you for your thoughts.
Great video and solid points. I was just putting together an outline on this topic for a future article and possible video. I do believe we've reached a point that--if we're sticking with the benchmark manufacturers--it's less about performance, more about the user interface, important features, and, of course, our antennas. Thanks & 73, de Thomas K4SWL / M0CYI
Thanks for sharing! 73 Peter
I can remember using a Kenwood TS 820 and KW2000B valve rig on 40 m at night totally useless due to being swamped by the BC stations overloading the front end not with modern rigs.
Yes my KW2000 also struggled. 73 Peter
Another very interesting video Peter. Thank you. I bought an IC-7300 last October and was immediately disappointed with the tinny audio from the receiver, even with an external speaker and the tone controls set for maximum bass. The rest of the rig was fine, but for receiver performance, anything that I can hear on the 7300, I can hear just as well on my 47 year old FT-101ZD, and with much fuller and more pleasant audio. OK, so more bells and whistles on the 7300, but how many do I really need? The DSP filtering is useful of course to reduce the background noise. In the end though, I bought a secondhand FT-991A, and of course it has that much fuller Yaesu audio, even though it actually has a smaller speaker than the 7300. The ICOM will soon be going to a new home. I recently watched a video by some American guys comparing the 7300 to the FTdx10 and guess what they said? The audio from the Yaesu was much fuller and more pleasant to the ear than the ICOM. Sadly, if it hadn't been for Covid, I would have been able to visit a dealer and play with the rigs and would probably have been put off by the ICOM audio before parting with any money. C'est la vie, as the French say! 73
Very interesting Gorfrequenciesdon. Ironically as we get older many struggle with the upper audio frequencies. Maybe the many that do, find the Icom sound just right! Comments please? 73 Peter
I must agree with the statement Yaesu has a bit better/nicer sound. I've bought an IC-7300 with an idea of being a replacement for my FT-991A, since Icom has much better UI and waterfall. Because of that, I now use the Icom more, but I simply couldn't sell the Yaesu, since I've found out that it sounds better. Another reason are VHF/UHF bands of course (I thought I could have solved them by an IC-705 with amps), but that's a different story... But even on HF, listening to a two day contest, that's when I start to really appreciate how the radio sounds...
And yes, maybe older people might find Icom sound less disturbing.
However, I do like very much the IC-7300, IC-705 and I'd go for Icom again. Just that now I do appreciate certain Yaesu advantages too.
Finally, it's how Peter says, I haven't found a signal so weak that one of the rigs would catch it while the other wouldn't. They are very similar in basic performance and what differs is the UI, waterfall and functions...
I just got a TS870s upgrade from a TS450 both older radios but I am on that Kenwood t and was unwilling to drop big money on a 7300 or a FT newer model and I really like the 870
It’s a good radio. Enjoy it. 73 Peter
Hi Peter, I agree with you I suppose if I was new to the hobby I'd try and borrow a short wave receiver to see what the local noise is at my QTH before I purchased a radio, I mean what's the point in buying the latest Carlos fandango radio with all the bells and whistles on it if you have lot of local noise, when out portable I have both an ft-817 and ic-705 and I get just as much fun out of both of them, cheers for the video Peter look forward to the next, Adam G7CRQ
Hi there. Well at keast your ham radio is mire healthy than sitting indoors operating. but limited at the moment. 73 Peter
WOW lots of common sense there. Yep you told me what I already knew but forgot had forgot it!!!
Many thanks. 73 Peter
Question: As best as I understand the FTDX-10's DNR is IF based. So how would a BHI DSP external unit attached to the 7300's audio, compare with the IF DNR found in the FTDX-10? Thank you in advance.
Maybe FT-DX10 owners will respond. 73 Peter
Thank you for a good video.
Some time ago I saw a video I believe you did on h ow some HTs receive was effected by RF interference from signals outside the 2 meter amateur band. It was filmed out in a park I believe and ended showing a 2 meter filter between the antenna and the HT. If that ws you, could you direct me to where I can find that video again?
Thank You
K1AUS
Sorry not me but hooe you track it down. 73 Peter
@@watersstanton Sorry about that. Ageing memory I guess. It was Richard Newstead at Sotabeams that made it. I do enjoy your videos. Thank you for you taking your time to share them with us.
Any thoughts on the Yaesu FT 991A? I was going to get one but with all the problems all over the place about bad bias in numerous rigs causing final output failure... 😕
Hi Dave, I believe this is no longer an issue. We are bot getting any reports. It certainly has great band coverage. I have opted for IC-7300 and IC-9700, b ut that is a more expensive option. 73 Peter
Hi Peter. I believe you can get any radio now days, and like you said, they are about the same. I believe that you should start looking at antennas. If you don't have a good antenna and have it set up right, that (any radio), isn't going to be worth any thing or work the way it should. Thank you for the video.
Hi Clark, yes I agree. 73 Peter
It's refreshing to see a retailer actually speak "the truth" these days. You used a camera comparison but really by any definition of want vs need in any hobby is again, the wallet. If you take the bicycle hobby for instance...500$ to 15,000$ ..once again your wallet. Do they all do the same thing in the end, yes you ride them! THANK YOU for giving such an honest and upfront presentation, hopefully some new ticket holders will come across this video before they start down the road of "I'm going to get that 10k rig/system".
Many thanks for sharing. 73 Peter
Peter, love your videos. I'm a newbie HAM, trying to spend my money wisely. I've come up with this idea that if I buy an IC705, I could have a single radio that would allow me QRP capability, with a small (40-50watt) amp, I could use it in a car, and with a larger amp, use it as a base station. Where am I going wrong?
Ultimately would it be more expensive than buying multiple radios ($$$amps)?
Would I be loosing functionality over multiple radios? As I'm a newbie I don't really know which bands and modes I'm going to find most enjoyable, so trying to go with all band, all mode gear...
Thanks,
Ed
You make a good point. The IC-705 can work well with an amp for base us. At the same time giving you mobile and portable options. Also cost effective! 73 Peter
I’m a new ham of about Four years now. I toggled between the Kenwood 590 SG and the Icom 7300. I went with the 7300 and it has been a great tool to learn with. And it has 100 watts. I have heard over and over that new hams will be disappointed with a QRP rig as their first rig. I jus t wanted to make contacts. Limiting myself to 10W likely would have been very frustrating. A year after the 7300 and I bought the Elecraft KX-2 for portable use. Took it around a few times on trips and was indeed frustrated at the lack of contacts. So, for me, the 7300 was the right choice.
I've gotten to the point of how does a manufacture layout the controls. I've gotten so I can move around on a Kenwood with lttle problem. I'm totally lost on an Icom, Yaesu, though I'm almost exclusivly with them on VHF and above, the only HF I've done on them is the FTdx5000 and 9000 when operating at W1AW.
I have recently had to hunt for even the on/ off control! 73 Peter
@@watersstanton I hear you.
I think receiver performance is more key than features. When you are trying to dig out that bit of CW DX on a noisy and crowded bands it doesn't really matter that your receiver has a 3D waterfall or a million menu options. You, like me, have been around long enough to know the value of selective front ends and excellent IF filtering which is mainly missing from the new generation. If I were backed into a corner to chose between a 7300 and an FT-DX10 I would go for the latter as it is much closer in performance to the great multi conversion rigs of the past. If I was just rag chewing on 80m then it probably wouldn't matter so much compared to getting that illusive island in poor conditions on CW or battling with strong contest stations. I look at the Sherwood reports and the differences do matter.
Hi Ken, thanks for sharing. I am using the IC-7300 mainly on CW and believe me, it is excellent. Great to hear from yiu. 73 Peter
I think that today a very important parameter is noise reduction, with all the new LED lighting technology that generates a lot of noise, and 20 years ago the noise in an urban area was considerably lower than today. According to many reviews the Yaesu is superior than the ICOM from this point of view.
Noise is a problem. Generally the only features that help inside the transceiver is the bandwidth filtering and noise reduction features. An improved front end performance helps, but only where there is cross mod or etc. When I compared the IC-7300 with FT-DX100 I did not notice any obvious diifference. 73 Peter
Nice......
Thanks
I've returned to amateur radio recently and am saddened by the lack of 2mtr/70cms activity BUT it's a modern world and their are such enticing little things such as DMR, D-Star and Fusion, (there are other data systems but I did say it's a modern world plus I'm not too familiar with them).
So, I had a good look around and checked out the specs of a good many radios and came to the conclusion that the best option would be an Icom IC-7100 since it covers all the HF bands, 6mtrs, 4mtrs, 2mtrs and 70cms is multi mode on all these bands and has this new fangled D-star thingy I can learn about plus decide which bands I'd prefer.
Then I can play antenna inventor to my hearts content...
Yes I would agree with all of that. Do remeber that the radio has no internal ATU so your antenna ideas might need that you purchase an ATU. 73 Peter .
@@watersstanton ATU?... never.... 1:1 or dishonour!!... hehehe
I like the duck tape on the mic mount.
Ah well, technology is not perfect! 73 Peter
Amateur Radio transceivers are a commodity product now, no different from flat screen TVs, cars or washing machines. Price point is the deciding factor. Once you know that, you may as well choose by your favourite front panel or brand. Use it, enjoy it, and then throw it away.
The big difference is that ham radio rigs retain second hand value - as against domestic items. 73 Peter.
@@watersstanton Good point. The IC7300 is significant for another reason, it is a step further along the path towards commodification of amateur rigs. No one is going to repair or mod a 7300. When the thing is dropped or the screen fails, you'll bin it and buy a new one. As prices come down it becomes easier to treat these rigs as consumables, like Tv's. Ham rigs will guarantee you 5 years of use, after that, you've got your money's worth. That's not necessarily a whinge, it's just the way we are inevitably going! 73 Paul VK3HN.
Within an industry, or a range of consumer products too, a manufacturer will never release a product which is significantly worse than the market average, otherwise it will not sell and all their efforts were worthless.
You would hooe so! 73 Peter
Sounds like the whole point of this video is to "stealthily" knock the G90. Hence it all should be taken with a grain of salt.
I personally would not take Bob Sherwood’s findings with a pinch of salt!
Icon 705 20 quid a week wink wink lol
Thanks. 73 Peter.
dear peter very good video i have an idea i am seventy-three got my m6-jlb prefix when i was sixty-eight enjoy every minute i spend on my used yaesu 450d and yes i do only use ten watts and there lies the rub how many contacts can you make on ten watts a thirty three foot long wire i have a postage size garden with three storey buildings on one side a huge tree one end and halfway down a dip in ten months i have had about eight or ten contacts local so i changed my radio to a xiegu-g90 a small sdr radio in the last two months i have made contacts all over European countrys scotland and ireland some on less than ten watts but still using my thirty three foot wire if you can make something of this peter to inspire other m6 hams it would be very good coming from you all my respect and very best wishes.jl beccles m6-jlb.
Hi John. Great to hear from you and glad that you are getting some good contacts. Ham radio is all about getting the best from whatever limitations you are working under. well done. 73 Peter