I dont see anything about the antenna system but I can say that after over 40 years in ham radio I have again had it reconfirmed that the money should be spent on the antenna system first and the radio second.
I disagree. Improving antenna can make things worse of QRM and QRN is bad it can amplify it. If your rig lacks selectivity and noise control you do not need to boost signals into it further. Most upgrade for receiver performance not transmitter.
A lot of the DSP and bells and whistles these days are overkill.
Again I disagree. A rig with quality DSP can make unreadable signal readable at times and pull them out of noise. The problem is many by low end rigs with primitive or cheaply implemented DSP and it makes them think DSP is not big deal because they never had a rig that the DSP was properly done. The mere label of IF DSP does not mean much, it is how well it is implemented and you are not going do it well for 1000 bucks.
