On the Ten Tec Eagle list, Rob Sherwood just posted a very interesting response to the 2 kHz DR rankings being discussed here. Apparently, there's a measurable amount of IMD difference not only between roofing filter production samples, but the manner in which they're inserted. For example, on the Orion II, he gets variations of several dB on close-spaced DR just by unplugging a filter and reversing it -- something not possible with the K3 since the pin-out isn't symmetrical. He goes on to discuss why.
Sounds like we could probably take handful of INRAD filters and choose the best ones that may likely be equal to the FTdx-5K under most, if not all narrow filter positions in the K3. On multiple occasions, Rob has stated that once you get up anywhere near these numbers, a prospective purchaser should be looking at other performance factors and features. Probably if you're within the top ten or so on his list, you would be pretty hard-pressed to notice any differences when other factors (e.g., the other guy's bandwidth) will mask incremental improvements to close-spaced DR. For me, those "other factors" that Rob discusses include low distortion, low noise AF sections, low TX IMD, and super fast, click-free T/R times. Right now, those are the most important factors to me now that basic receiver performance has advanced so much in the past decade. Paul, W9AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
