As promised me in November by Rob Sherwood, the new Yaesu FT DX 3000 has been reviewed and added to the world famous Receiver Test Data comparison table.
Table is sorted by dynamic range – narrow spaced, means tat when you are listening to stations with signals close up the one you are focusing, you will hear it better…
According to Rob measurements, the latest Yaesu HF transceiver, considering tha dynamic range values, places right under the entry lever line Kenwood TS-590s measured in donwconversion (20 m) and even the smallest FlexRadio 1500 it’s above it.
This confirm the excellent perfomance / price ratio of the 590’s receiver.
Personally I expected the Yaesu FT DX 3000 for the price being aproximately around 3000 Euros, to have superior receiving performance, considering that the 590 can be found here in Italy at almost half the price and decreading.
Honestly I’m a bit disappointed, since my expectations, reading Yaesu specifications table where much higher. Being a Yaesu Fan.. I expected a receiver performance in line with the price.
Thanks to Rob Sherwood for being in time as promised.. Great job ..as always.
I’m disappointed, too. I expected FTDX3000 would be located just under FTDX5000 because the both had almost the same RX.
Ichiro JE1SGH
I have has a TS590 since last fall. My antenna system is quite poor but I am very happy with the filter and noise performance of the TS590. It is sold at a lower price than last fall!
The FT3000 certainly has many more operating features than the TS590, The looks of the TS590 lack the “wow factor” that the FT3000 has. The color displays are nice to view and are useful too!.
From the specs and what I have seen in reviews the FT950 and FT3000 receive performance is pretty close.
For $1000 more (in the USA) I think the FT3000 gives you a nicer operating experience but the receiver is about the same as the TS590, give or take.
Do not fret about the 590. The superior numbers are for downconversion bands. On WARC bands and 10m where the 590 uses upconversion the 3000 is superior. ARRL testing also shows that. People seem to ignore that fact. I did a side by side comparison at a radio store, and the 3000 is the better choice. On receive it sounds as quiet as FM with squelch and the receive audio is a pleasure to listen to. It comes with more roofing filters, TXCO, and a scope (although not the best). That makes up for a lot of the cost difference (about 700 USD in the USA). In addition there are no issues with ALC overshoot or low power as there are with the 590. The main issue for the 3000 seems to be phase noise which almost everyone on the Yahoo Groups board says is not a problem for most applications. I will receive my 3000 today
I am sorry that you feel that way about the FTDX3000, I owned a TS590 for 9 months, nice but smallish radio with that Kenwood RX noise floor alway’s in the background which IMO made it hard to pull out the wee small signal’s and very slow DSP system harking back to the 870. The TX aidio on the 590 never even came close to any Yaesu, any way you set the TX EQ and even with the software package it sucked plus low average SSB output. Now after a week or two with the two side buy side I was very happy to ship out the 590, the FTDX3K just blew it off the table, the RX audio was like Hi Fi compared to the 590, very low noise floor front end but here again Mr Sherwood never coment on these thing cause he look at one thing, CW lab number’s plus he tested one of the very first production run’s just like his buddy in Canada who is in bed with Icom. As far as the RX performance goes the better quality of audio made the Yeasu sound better and as far as handling big singnal’s next to small one’s they were about the same but the faster DSP chip set in the Yaesu made the Kenwood sound like a 1997 870, very waterey sounding. On TX the 3K just gobbled up the 590, strong robust sounding SSB plus the EQ really works and the average ssb output makes the 590 look like a qrp rig. As far as phase noise goes I really dont think you could tell the difference between the two but one thing the Yaesu does have is less noise in the front end making the rig a real pleasure to operate for hours on end. BTW many bitch about the scope being to small, well get some new glasses or go to your eye doctor, I find the scope and display giving you as much info as you want at a glance over any of those Icom rigs in the like price range. Looking at numbers from the ARRL lab which I trust over Mr. Sherwood’s lab cause I have been and seen there lab and did meet with some of there guys in the past when I worked for a small radio company I would say the blocking and DR number are very good, its not ment to be a FT5K but it’s less than half the price here in the US. I only wish that you guys on the net stop making coment on radio’s you never even played with, instead you look at some test results from some nerd that only op’s CW, he had hams fall asleep at Dayton this year, stop taking someone’s opinion and start babbling there opinions, go use the radio yourself and make your own otherwise you all sound like a bunch of trolls. Is the FTDX3000 the best rig out there, no there will always be radio’s that are slighly better but for the investment dollar this is more of a complete radi than the Kenwood, the kenwood is more like a mobile rig that a home rig. BTW I bought the 590 first cause of all the rave testing and was happy the day I sold it and shipped it out, now I take all these internet hopla with a grain of salt, plys with a rig first then decide.
Jim
Well said Jim,I have played around with the FTDX3000 and have to say I’m impressed with it
Please look at the ARRL lab numbers on the FTDX3K, IMO I really dont look at Sherwoods sight any more for a lab test result. ARRL’s lab test showed blocking at 2Khz at 127db for both 3.5+14Mhz, IMD DR numbers of 100db at 2Khz spacing(sherwoods numbers were way off here which may have been a bad sample), second order IP at +87db and +75 with pre amp in line. Were do you come off saying that the FTDX3K is a slacker, the noise floor alone is much lower than the 590 I had, please before you bash a radio look for at least two different lab tests, way too many place Sherwood on top of some friggin hill and there are some that say that the ARRL is tainted but belive me I have worked for a radio company in the past and have had radio’s go up to the ARRL lab for testing plus have been there when the radio was tested. They tell the strory just as they see it, there’s no playing with the numbers and if the numbers are that bad they will not reveiw it, they will send the radio back to the company and say fix it before you put it on the shelf in some radio store. So before you start to bash some rig please try and use the ARRL lab numbers not just some so called expert. BTW I still feel the 590 is a great little rig but that is the point, its little and great for taking away on vacations, its allot of bang for the buck but I strongly feel that the Yaesu is the better of the two and the IC7410 is lost in space(have no idea were Icom’s head is at these day’s). The FTDX1200 is something that looks like they had a bunch of parts left over from the second RX from the FTDX9000 and its kinda like the Icom but the FTDX3K was briliant. At the end of your post your thanking Mr. Sherwood for a great job, you gotta be kidding, again please before you make a judgement call try the radio’s out yourself instead of taking one man’s work for it.
Jim
I have had an FTDX5000 in the shack and I have to say on receive you would be battling to tell the difference they both have beautiful receivers.
I have a question, does the CW decode work on six meters as mine doesn’t appear to not that it’s that inportant if it doesn’t
The FTDX3000 is excellent value for the money.
I am guessing the replacement for the 3000 will utilise the whole display
area with a larger toutch screen.
John