It seems to me that these days many of the manufacturers of receivers /
transceivers for ham use are attempting to sell the idea that performance is
related to the number of front panel controls i.e. bells and whistles. A
while back I was allowed to play with the latest mind boggling offering from
'X' whose specs claimed a +40dbm IIP3 (at quite an offset mind you), and
whose front panel resembled the flight deck of the Space Shuttle. Its price
is astronomical.
After playing and looking at the circuit diagrams I believe that many of its
front panel controls are 'window dressing'. Perhaps in some cases the
development budget had been spent and the circuits could not be refined, so
it was easier to have the user do the tweaking. A slight digression, a
colleague of mine believed that front end attenuators were 'an admission of
defeat', possibly a little harsh if the design is constrained by a power
budget. This receiver's front end and IF circuits gave me the impression
that the designers had run out of new ideas, or were prevented by patents to
use modern 'strong' receiver circuitry. So I suppose it was up to marketing
/ sales, once again, to give the old new names - and suggest a few more
knobs.
It would be interesting to see the results of a survey asking people which
front panel controls / displays they would truly like to have in a receiver
/ transceiver, and whether the prime use was for ragchewing, DXing or
contesting.
73,
Geoff
GM4ESD
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