HF Transceivers performance comparison
The March 2000 issue of RadCom has an in depth technical review of the new ICOM IC756 PRO. I have summarized three key technical measurements on a variety of transceivers, all made by the same reviewer, Peter Hart, using the same methodology. The three measurements are the two-tone dynamic range (in a SSB bandwidth), a reciprocal mixing measure, and the amount of transmitter broadband noise (also in a SSB bandwidth). The rigs are listed with the best at the top in terms of close-in performance. The IC756 PRO ranks near the bottom.
Spacing 3k 5k 10k 15k 20k 30k
Corsair I - November 1984 - no synthesizers DR - 90 90 90 90 90 Recip - 98 98 98 98 98 TX noise 95 95 95 95 95 95
OMNI-VI - January 1994 DR 88 88 88 88 88 88 Recip 86 86 - 96 96 96 TX noise 83 87 96 97 98 98
FT1000MP - January 1996 DR 78 82 92 103 99 98 Recip 80 86 94 99 103 108 TX noise 76 81 89 94 96 99
IC737 - September 1993 DR 74 80 88 92 94 98 Recip 90 96 104 105 107 110 TX noise 79 87 93 95 96 97
FT990 - April 1992 DR 70 78 88 92 94 96 Recip 83 87 93 97 100 105 TX noise 74 79 84 86 87 88
TS690S - November 1992 DR 67 77 87 91 93 94 Recip - - - 98 101 105 TX noise 70 77 82 85 88 88
TS930 - May 1986 DR - 77 87 - 91 92 Recip 77 83 89 - 97 101 TX noise - 79 83 - 85 88
TS940 (with Lowe modification to improve reciprocal mixing by 12db)
- May 1986
DR - 76 81 - 88 91
Recip 83 89 98 - 105 110
TX noise - 72 72 - 72 74
TS850 - October 1991 DR - 75 89 95 95 96 Recip 85 89 100 105 108 112 TX noise 75 83 90 95 96 99
IC756 - May 1997 DR 74 74 75 79 82 86 Recip 79 84 91 95 98 102 TX noise 73 80 87 91 94 97
IC756 PRO - March 2000 DR 72 73 76 82 86 90 Recip 83 86 92 96 98 101 TX noise - - - - - -
IC775DSP - January 1996 DR 72 72 78 87 91 93 Recip 90 96 100 103 106 109 TX noise 78 80 87 92 97 100
FT920 - August 1997 DR 70 72 83 95 97 96 Recip 85 90 97 101 104 108 TX noise - - - - - -
TS50S - May 1993 DR 67 69 74 80 84 92 Recip 78 84 95 - 103 104 TX noise 74 79 85 90 93 97
FT847 - August 1998 DR 65 67 78 89 96 94 Recip 76 80 90 94 97 101 TX noise 70 76 86 90 93 97
FT1000 - June 1991 DR 65 65 72 82 88 93 Recip 81 85 91 95 98 102 TX noise - 76 81 - 84 -
TS870 - April 1996 DR 58 61 73 84 94 95 Recip - - - 100 103 107 TX noise 75 80 88 91 92 93
IC781 - July 1990 DR 52 57 76 92 97 - Recip 90 96 103 106 110 113 TX noise - 85 92 - 98 -
Notes: DR - two-tone dynamic range on 7 MHz in SSB bandwidth Recip - reciprocal mixing for 3dB increase in receiver noise TX noise- dBC in 2.5kHz bandwidth
spacings refers to spacing of the two tones for dynamic range and the offset from the carrier frequency for reciprocal mixing and TX noise
Dates refer to issues of RadCom containing the Peter Hart review.
Rigs listed in order of decreasing dynamic range with 5 kHz spacing. -- CQ-Contest on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
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OK1VPZ Comment to the HF transceivers performance chart:
In our praxis for more precise calculation (not as in the list shown noise performance for SSB filter) is used noise performance for 1 Hz unit. (1 Hz of filter bandwidth).
So for ordinary use add to the (in chart) submitted noise (reciprocal mixing and TX noise) performance + 34 dB (2.5 kHz SSB filter is 34 dB wider than 1 Hz). After that you will get the result in dBc/Hz units.
(For example - FT 1000 MP has in 20 kHz space from carrier aprox. - 137 dBc/Hz local oscillator sideband noise and 130 dBc/Hz overall TX noise).
Because in this issue were not described noise spectrum of test oscillator and methodology of measurment, results are a bit uncertain from the perspective of absolute values. But in any case it is good help, how compare those transceivers each to other.