Can someone explain why anyone would use a SD1446 instead of MRF455?

[BC Coyote]

I don't have my amateur ticket, I only run on 11 meter freeband frequencies, and I've never found a need for more than a couple hundred watts to work the world.

If a frequency has 7 S units of noise I wouldn't be caught dead there ! I always seek out quiet frequencies to work DX. And yes, they do exist, even with the current solar peak ongoing.

We will just have to respectfully agree to disagree !

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

No you don't. I can pretty much talk to any station I can hear, and I only use 150 watts maximum. A better and higher antenna is much more important than power output anyways. Also, remember that the difference on receive between a station doing 150 watts and one doing 600 is only 1 S unit. Barely enough to notice the difference !

Although it has been many years since I have been on 11m I remember the heyday of the late 70's and 80's when every man and his dog had a radio. I have never used any more than 100 watts on 11m at any time and for many years was confined to just 25 watts. I did ALWAYS use SSB and had a Wilson Shooting Star beam. My first years were spent using a 23 channel radio and a 5/8 groundplane which got me into Europe quite often and got me my first QSL card from Greenland. Shortly after getting the beam I got my first card from South Africa. That operator just had a 1/2 wave groundplane and we had to jump around a few channels in order to finish the contact. I had a decent horizon mind you but still never more than 100 watts and I worked all over North America, Europe, and Africa. I was pretty much shut out to the Pacific region due to blocking terrain.

 

[BC Coyote]

My recipe for happy freeband DXing is quite simple.....

-Mode selector is always in USB.
-I never go below 27.460 MHz
-I heavily favor frequencies that end in '0' as opposed to '5'.
-I monitor 555 from time to time but almost never make a call; I follow interesting stations to their QSY frequency and call them there.

That's All.