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Only if your antenna is very inefficient (e.g. car roof broadband loop or whip)
would any sensitivity advantage of the AOR 7030+, Drake R8B, or various Icom
and JRC (or for that matter Collins or Hammarlund) models over the Perseus make
any difference.
The solution is simple: use a low-noise preamp ahead of the Perseus. The DX
Engineering RPA-1 is one I have used with small antennas. There are also good
models from Clifton Laboratories.
These are very good amps:
http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-rpa-1
http://www.cliftonlaboratories.com/norton_amplifier.htm
A broadband loop antenna as small as 2m x 2m (6.6 x 6.6 ft.) delivers good DX
to the Perseus, at least at shore sites. This is because of low noise
preamplification.
http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/loop/car_roof_loop.htm
If you are in an urban area, insert an L-C tank tuning circuit between the
antenna and preamp. Of course that takes away wideband capture ability but
will lessen the incidence of overload / spurs while maintaining good
desired-frequency sensitivity.
Of course Les is correct about the "killer app" of SDR's - spectrum storage for
later playback. The recent run of auroral conditions in the northeastern
states has shown the productivity boost band-capture provides. New England
DXers such as Bruce Conti, Bill Nollman, Stephen Wood, and myself have been
cleaning up on Latin Americans that would have otherwise been passed by in a
"too much DX, too little time" scenario if we were still doing it old-school
with conventional receivers.
When I got my SDR-IQ around 2007 and the Perseus in 2009, sunset beach
DXpeditioning became far more efficient: scrape up a couple of top-of-hour
captures while parked at the beach and then go back home and spend the next
couple of weeks sorting it out.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA
<<
From: Les Rayburn <[email protected]>
...
Welcome to the dark side, indeed.
Those of us who live in
the "middle" and especially those of us who live
in suburban neighborhoods
would never see the ever-so slight sensitivity
advantage of an AOR 7030+. The
AOR 7030+ and the Drake R8B have another
intangible in their favor, they just
sound "amazing"--and are easy to
listen to for hours.
But I think price has
to also be considered in the equation. You can
purchase a brand new Elad
FDM-S2 for $539, while the AOR 7030+ is
selling for $1,500 on ebay. Buy the
Elad, a decent sound card and
speakers for your computer--and enjoy the fact
that you've made a smart
decision--and your DXing will never suffer.
And no
conventional receiver will ever be able to record raw I/Q of the
entire AM
band overnight, effectively allowing you to "preserve" an
opening for years to
come. I recorded a lot of the recent auroral
conditions, and happily spent
hours during the middle of the day
reviewing them already. Try that with an
AOR 7030+.
http://shop.elad-usa.com/
--
73,
Les Rayburn,
N1LF
Maylene, AL
EM63
Member NRC, IRCA, & Medium Wave DX Circle
Former CPC
Chairman for NRC/IRCA
Elad FDM-S2 SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke
ALA-1530+ loop, LF
Engineering Active Whips,
Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop,
Palstar MW Pre-Selector
>>
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