I do. Its floor when an antenna is connected is probably just under S5. It is the same when I have the main breaker off to the house and am running the radio from a good 12 volt car battery I temporarily liberated from my truck for this testing. I have not yet been able to test the radio from a completely different location though.
After a lot of internal kvetching, I just decided that it's just the way this radio is and it is still the best radio I know of for my needs that is
within my budget. If I did not use this radio I really don't know which one I would buy for around the same money that has comparable features and no noise "issue". Other brands I've looked at
may be less noisy (don't know for sure) but their frequency drift reputation is as sucky as extra noise.
It's been a long, long time since I last purchased a new radio (a 2510 in about 1998 and 500 miles east of here) so this noise is a new phenomenon to me. Definitely not ideal but it's one of many compromises I have to make in life. YMMV.
Houston... We have a BINGO ^^^
Thank you, sir.
This is exactly what I was wanting to know. You seem to have the exact same issue that my radio displays. And make no mistake, this is NOT "normal", however it may very well be "typical" for THIS radio, which is exactly what I was trying to find out.
Your description matches my own, and a couple of other people here who've responded to my query. And I think that it actually matches a lot MORE people here who aren't chiming in, because their DSP NR keeps them happy enough.
Speaking of the NR, I think that the reason that so many people seem so enamored with, and elated, that this radio includes NR (while most all other 10/11 meter radios do not), is because if it didn't have it, it would suck with that noise on receive.
It seems that the only way to make this radio "enjoyable" to listen to, is to use the NR, which, in the past (with HF radios) was used in situations where there is some kind of RFI inundating your receive. It was never something that should be necessary at a quiet (RFI and noise floor free) QTH.
But this radio seems to NEED it turned on all the time. Which is why people GUSH about how wonderful it "works"... lol. For example, I could take my HR2510, hook it up, and experience a nice quiet receive, and hear most everything that my 7610 hears on a quiet band with no noise floor.
But if I switch in the 5555N2, I have a NOISY radio that is annoying to listen to, UNLESS I turn on the NR, which takes down the noise (but not the visible noise floor on the meter), and I get to listen to the quieter (but wavery underwater) audio that NR produces.
I will admit that the NR on this radio DOES sound pretty decent, unless you use it too high, which is why most people here seem to like the 2 or 3 setting. But ask yourself, would you love the receive on this radio WITHOUT the NR? Seems like the reason that they included it on this rig, is because without it, people would NOT like it.
This is all just my personal opinion. And you know what they say about opinions... lol.
But KUDOS to Timmy here, because you pretty much summed up my feelings about the radio perfectly. And that is, if the radio is simply inherently like this, and mine isn't a "defective" or mal-aligned unit, then I'm likely to keep it and deal with it, rather than feel as if I got screwed, and consequently return it.
As I have said previously, this radio is great in most ways (for what it is and costs) which is why it sucks for it to have this one glaring short-coming.
So... That being said...
If I DO keep it, then there are a few changes I would like to make on it. Maybe someone here can steer me in the right direction.
1) I'd like to adjust my S-Meter. I went into the Service Mode to take a look around. Didn't see the proper menu item to adjust the S-Meter. Does anyone know which menu number it is? Every HF radio I've ever owned has had an S-meter adjustment that is obviously adjusted at the factory using a signal generator.
If this radio doesn't HAVE an adjusment for the S-meter, that would mean that it's "built-in" to the firmware of this design, and a truly crappy way of doing it, IMHO. I do realize that if I turn my S-Meter down to zero or 1-S unit (when there's no signal or noise floor), that would mean that a 9 S-unit signal would only show up at around "5".
But hey, that would mean that when I tell someone that their signal is "5&9", it really WOULD be... Ha!
But seriously, I'd rather see NO reading on the S-Meter (when there is no signal or noise floor), than a 4-5 reading on the meter when I know for a fact that there IS none. At least that way, I can see anything REAL that shows up, along with hearing it, obviously.
2) This radio sounds pretty thin on FM. I don't use FM very often, but would still like to make it sound better, if possible. My IC-7610, shows a 12.5 KHz (25 wide) frequency modulated signal. But this little crackerbox only shows half that. So no wonder the FM is sounds lacking.
Is there a way to adjust the FM Deviation in the Service Menu? If I want to use FM, the reason would likely be for local "high quality" audio communications. I'm sure it's an easy adjustment, but since I don't have the Service manual, I don't know which of the many FM adjustments in this Service Menu to go after.
3) One last thing. I've seen it discussed in previous pages on this thread, the subject of widening the RX and TX bandpass settings from the factory setting of "450-2,500" on SSB. (2K wide audio may be OK for DX'ing, but pretty tight for most of the communications I engage in. I'm not looking for even 3K wide audio, let alone more than that. Just something more like 2.8 would be great. That's generally what I use, even on rigs I've owned that can do 4K.
It's a bit confusing, looking over the varying opinions of people on this thread concerning whether it's doable on this radio, or just a "placebo" as someone called it. Has anyone here managed to adjust their rig for a wider RX and TX bandpass successfully, with favorable results? If I am going to keep this radio, I'd really like to widen it just a bit.
To the people who've responded to my questions on this thread... Thanks! I really appreciate a forum with pleasant and helpful members who go out of their way to try and solve each others issues. You guys are really great.
D
