On 09/01/16 11:01, jeffory broughton wrote:
I have had several FT 847 radios.Great low cost choice and works well with satpc32.However ,for just a few dollars More get a used IC910. Much better rx sens with a lower noise figure.Also REAL DNR circuitry.Make listening for long periods a pleasure,not so exhausting. Also if you compare the specs of the IC910 and IC 9100 uhf and vhf SECTIONS, you will see they are IDENTICAL!
I wouldn't focus on noise figure at the receiver, unless you happen to have 1' of cable between the rig and your antenna. Instead, I'd put a bias-T-powered LNA at the antenna to preserve your SNR (Friis formula).
Having recently built a U310-based LNA, I can say that a single night's work of soldering and testing pays off well. Total parts cost was in the $5 range.
I plan to build a new LNA based on a pHEMT just for fun. Only a couple of bucks from Digikey. Why settle for 1.0dB when you can potentially get 0.25dB! :-)
--- Zach N0ZGO