IC7000 and FT950 receivers

[VK5DO]

Hi There,

I'm hoping someone has had some direct comparison experience between the receivers on the FT950 and the IC7000.

I've got a 7000 and have always had the feeling that it's a bit deaf on HF when compared to a FT857 and even a FT450 I had for a short time. 

I'm thinking of getting a FT950 and would be interested in anyone's comments and if the change from the 7000 to the FT950 would be a significant/noticable upgrade in receivers.

Thanks in advance. Yours,

Dene
VK5DO

[N9JFG]

I have a FT-950 and love it.  I've had no problems with it and find the features provided in it to be very good.  There
is a Yahoo group on the FT-950 which will sing many praises as well as discuss the other issues. Irecommend signing up
and reviewing those posts.
73 John N9JFG

[KJ1D]

Dene

I also have a FT-950. It is a fine radio. I don't know how it compares with the 7000 but it does a good job for me. Maybe someone who has one near you can let you try it out before you buy.

73
Richard

[WZ3O]

The IC 7000, Deaf on HF? I have one & had a FT897 & Kenwood TS 480 SAT & compared all 3, per my observations, same antennas etc.... IC 7000 held it's own or was a little better on HF.

Now as to V/U well there it is a bit "insensitive", but there's a hidden menu setting that can tweak up the receive sensitivity to a very respectable level.

I find the IC 7000 (once you do the set & forget menu items) easier to use than the FT950 I played @ AES Cleveland, IMHO.

Want a "shack in a box" with a great color display, compact size etc, IC7000 is my choice...

Want a much larger very good HF rig with tons of menus to wade thru..then it's the FT 950...they're both nice rigs.

Which ever one you choose, I think you can't go wrong, but they are a different "genre", IMHO.

As always, my 2¢'s, etc..

[QRPNEW]

Receiver sensitivity is the least of your problems. I am amused that you "perceive" with your ear that there is a sensitivity difference. You may be just hearing phase or white noise. Not a very scientific way of doing a comparison.

Modern receivers have sufficient sensitivity even the deaf ones. The  factor that limits our ability to hear is man made noise. If you plug your antenna into the radio and the noise goes up you have sufficient sensitivity. Almost all radios pass the test with the preamp off.

I would be more concerned about dynamic range numbers, RX Inband IMD, audio HISS and transmitter IMD if I was choosing between radios. Frankly  there is not  much to choose between a FT950 and a IC7000, they bottom end radios. If you wanted some kind of decent performance you would look at something like the TS590S or Elecraft K3.

The FT950 has a noisy audio amplifier.  Yaesu uses  tricks to make you believe that its not noisy.  Read the W9AC review of the FT950 on Eham.

The good thing about the FT950 is its ergonomics and front panel layout. Its an excellent  home station radio. The Transmitter IMD is also very good. It is a very clean transmitter according to the QST review.

I  was hoping that Yaesu would release a down conversion FT950 thats based on the FT5000 receiver. Now that would be some radio if Yaesu does not put in a  noisy audio amplifer into it.  I hate listening to audio hiss and the FT950 is certainly hissy. The Icom 7000 does not have this severe hiss problem like the FT950.

Yaesu could have a real winner if the produced a FT950 with the FT5000's receiver in it, and also put in a very clean PA. The ergonomics of a single receiver FT950 based on the FT5000's receiver would make this imaginary radio a all time best seller.

The downside to the FT950 is  that it really has a crap receiver. Any radio with a IMD dynamic range of 60 to 70 db is a crap receiver these days. When radios like the K3 and the TS590 are hitting 90 to 100db, the FT950 stinks.

The IC7000's receiver is no better and is not really a home station radio. Its receiver performance as well as its poor transmitter IMD makes its less ideal for home station use.

Choosing a radio is tough these because most of them have sub standard receivers and transmitters.

The TS590S, K3, Orion and Ten Tec eagle are the only radios that offer decent receiver performance. Its just unfortunate  their transmitter IMD is not all that great. If I had the cash, I would buy the FT5000 it meets my requirement of having both a good receiver and transmitter. Its just too expensive for my taste. If the Ten Tec Eagle had a cleaner transmitter I would have bought 2 of them.

I dont blame you for liking the FT950, its sexy and well layed out. Makes  radios like the K3 and Eagle look like CB radios.

Hi There,

I'm hoping someone has had some direct comparison experience between the receivers on the FT950 and the IC7000.

I've got a 7000 and have always had the feeling that it's a bit deaf on HF when compared to a FT857 and even a FT450 I had for a short time. 

I'm thinking of getting a FT950 and would be interested in anyone's comments and if the change from the 7000 to the FT950 would be a significant/noticable upgrade in receivers.

Thanks in advance. Yours,

Dene
VK5DO

[VK5DO]

Thanks for your replies in particular QRPNEW. 

You've got me thinking in a new direction.  Basically I think I'm better off spending another $1000.

So now the choice is K3, Ten Tec Orion or for a bit less - Kenwood TS540.

Having read some articles/reviews, the Kenwood sounds like it's got a pretty good receiver, is more user friendly and for me here in Australia - cheaper and easier to get.

The other two are a bit dearer but it may be worth the effort and expense.  More research and deep thought required.
 
Yours

Dene
VK5DO

[VK5DO]

Kenwood TS-590 I meant...

Dene
VK5DO

[VK5DO]

Gees, I'm doing well today..

I meant to say

The OmniVII, the K3 or the TS-590.

Sometimes the brain isn't connected to the fingers.

Dene
VK5DO

[AB7KT]

I own both an Icom 7000 and a Yeasu 950.

I have not operated the IC-7000 very much so I can't really give you a head to head comparison. My IC-7000 is kept at a different location and is only used infrequently. The 950 is the primary radio I use.

I don't have any technical numbers or in depth lab analysis results. All I can offer is my opinions based on actually using the rig extensively on the air. My opinion is that the receiver leaves a lot to be desired. This is based on one simple thing. I frequently set up skeds on the internet. The point is that we can tell each other over the internet how we received (or not) the other station after the fact.  I have other stations give me signal reports of perhaps 579 while I can not hear them at all.  I get a very good signal report from the station at the other end and I absolutely can't hear him at all or not well enough to copy what he is sending. If this only happened a couple times I would write it off to condtions, the equipment the other op is using or whatever. But this happens to me almost every time I am on the air over a period of a year. Don't get me wrong, I have made thousands of contacts using the 950. But when the going gets tough, the 950 lets me down.
Of course this could be operator error on my part. There could be some feature I have activated or not activated that is causing me to not be able to copy. But, I don't think so. I was trying to work a station the other day and had this same thing happen. He sends me a message over the internet: you are booming in here. I could barely tell he was there. I went so far as to do a full reset of my radio to restore all settings to their factory defaults. It didn't seem to make any difference.

So, from the very uneducated opinion, the receiver in the 950 is lacking.

I don't really see myself spending the money to buy a new radio in the near future, but if I was, I would be looking at the Kenwood 590 or the Elecraft K3.

[WA7NCL]

The only thing I notice about my IC7000 is that it does not excel at overload performance.  It really gets clobbered on 160m during a contest with locals running 2Kw.  It suffers from being very small and therefore not having enough space for the filtering needed for high dynamic range.

I bought it for a mobile rig.  It excels at that, and is plenty sensitive.  The dsp is outstanding for selectivity especially on CW.

I would not use it as a home rig unless I was space limited.

I've used the K3.  It is very good for overload and dynamic range.  Especially if you add the narrow roofing filters.

If I were getting advice on choosing a rig, I would not rely on the advice of an eham member who seems to be a ham but doesn't use his call.

[TANAKASAN]

A few months ago we had an FT-950 and an IC-7000 at our radio club, one week after the other. Lots of members tried the rigs out and the general impression was that the Icom was the better rig. It certainly sounded better, audio on the Icom was crystal clear but the Yaesu audio was 'mushy'

Head to a dealer, try both.

Tanakasan

[KD8OPI]

I'm a new ham, and the only HF rig I've owned is my IC-7000.  I use an s9 31' vertical antenna, and an LDG IT-100 autotuner.  I can't compare it to the 950, but I'm working the world in SSB and PSK31, talked to someone from VK land on 10 meters 2 days ago, then popped up to the 2 meter repeaters and had some more fun.  I'm plenty pleased with my purchase, and for $1200 I got a great "pocket knife" radio that's let me do everything in this hobby.  I like Yaesu products too, and recent reviews of the 950 in QST have been good, I love my Yaesu handheld.  

I don't think you can go wrong with either, really.  If you want 2m and 70cm, get the ICOM, if you want a better less menu-driven lay out and already own a vhf/uhf tranceiver, Id get the 950 as a dedicated hf rig.

BTW, I worked a fellow in southern Siberia, (almost exactly on the other side of the world from my QTH in Ohio) near the western Mongolian border over the weekend on PSK-31 with my IC-7000 on a crowded band.  It wasn't 559, but we exchanged calls and locations.  I couldn't have done this without the digital  100hz filtering I "shaped" on my Icom to grab the qso.  For a radio that's not a contest rig, it sure acts like one sometimes!! Enjoy your decision-making, I envy you!