IC-756ProIII and LDG Z-11pro

The April edition of QST has some neat articles in it. One is adding a 5kc roofing filter to the IC-756proIII. The filter is produced by International Radio, the same company that makes the filters I put in my FT-857D last year - good stuff.

One fact of life with the middle of the road and down HF radios is they generally use a 15kc+ front end. My TS-2000 is no different. Even though the specific radio might be a DSP rig, the IC-756ProIII and TS-2000 included, there is only so much digital filtering can do to help the performance of the radio. Having a mechanical filter to narrow the passband up front is most definitely the best route to go. That way your DSP has less crap to work with = better performance.

This may be something I should look in to for my TS-2000. I have a blown RF choke on the CW keying circuit right now so I need to get my hands in the case anyway. Speaking of that, I ordered the part (3 to have extras) about two months ago. They were out of stock when I placed the order so I figured as soon as they become available again they will ship. Maybe I should follow up and see what the deal is...

In any event, adding a narrower roofing filter would surely add to the usability of the TS-2000. Having all those bands in one box is amazing. However, you can't get all that in one package without some sacrifices. Receiver performance, unfortunately, is one of them.

There is also a nice article on the LDG Z-11Pro autotuner in QST. I would like to see a review of the tuner. The article isn't a regular review. Maybe they can toss in some other tuners in the same range. I know MFJ makes one and the SGC tuners may fall in a similar category also.