Thanks for the comparison and the reminder that just because it is newer, doesn't mean it is better. I have a Ten-Tec Omni D, the predecessor to the Corsair. I have made some modifications to improve receive audio over the years thanks to Ten-Tec providing detailed module descriptions and schematics in the manual. Despite being over 40 years old, it receives just as well as most new rigs and has significantly less noise on the receive audio making it a very pleasant radio to use for extended periods (like Field Day). I also routinely get compliments on how great it sounds on the air.
I usually use one of my Corsair II's for Field Day over the last ~30 years. The CII has always been an excellent performer. I would like to try an INRAD roofing filter for giggles. They can make a huge difference on my Omni 6+ xcvrs. Shame Jack Burchfield sold of TT in pieces instead of working out an employee buyout. Not sure the new owner is going to be able to keep it going after so many years of no engineering work having been done; I wish him the best!
I have the Tentec Omni VII and its reciever is very quiet. I also have a older Icom 751A with very narrow filters it is on par with the TenTec Omni. The 7300 is an entry level radio and for that it works well but you just proved the 7300 fell flat on its face as compared to the Corsair. Thanks for making this video.
Thanks for doing the test Steve. I guessed the Corsair II would probably do better. Despite having a few more modern rigs in the shack, I nearly always turn to my TenTec Corsair II for CW. As well as rx performance nearly always being better, the QSK on tx is still phenomenal. Still haven't used a rig that has faster/smoother QSK than a Corsair II. Only issue I had with my Corsair II was the PTO was too unstable by modern standards and was a bit unreliable. So, I installed a N4YG DDS VFO. Now there is no drift and I can operate split without an external VFO 😊.
My first rig was a Corsair. Have to get me another old TT someday. Busy with kits and transformers now. The little 817 has a great rx too. I was tuning in to a signal the other day on the 817 and thought, that's a little light. Then noticed TWO (not one but 2) antenna switches in "other" positions. All the signal I was hearing was jumping though the void of "not connected". 7300 won't quite do that for me. On a big signal it'll hear bleedthrough of one switch barely, but not two. I'd like to test more.
Corsair is awesome, if TenTec still made them, i'd likely buy one.. I own a Jupiter and the SDR receiver is pretty hard to beat for CW. Interestingly enough I got a 7300 ordered!
It is still hard to beat this American legend by the rice box, haha :))) If you will play a bit with RF Gain on the Corsair then the difference could be even much bigger. Congrats for your Corsair II !
Both radios have an "RF GAIN" control.... Both are turned fully max for comparison. Forgive the brightness problem. The waterfall on the 7300 looks correct in real life. It is not being overloaded. Only Flex has AGC-T
Thank you so much for this comparison. I have an IC-7300 and felt i missed the filters I once had in old Kenwood radios. However, in the last few years I only had the Icom. My 96 y.o. Elmer, W5NJJ, now in a nursing home gave me an old, but well cared for Corsair. I’m fifteen minutes from firing up the Corsair, and I found this video. I was so happy to hear what I expected I[d hear. I know that my CW work will really take off now that I have a Ten Tec again. I let go an Omni in the 80s because it drifted. However, i cannot express my love and gratitude to my old Elmer adequately. That’s what radio is about: Giving of ourselves to help one another.
Corsair II Wins!!! It sounds much quieter and louder, and overall more pleasant. It's a beautiful and superb rig. Very cool comparison. Thanks for posting!
Agreed that NR "ON" with IC7300 is not a fair comparison, but turning off AGC and using manual RF Gain on IC7300 should be fair. ;-) Doing this the comparison is much closer between Corsair II and 7300. I prefer Corsair II for CW and prefer IC7300 greatly for FT8 - hihi. Corsair II and FT450D for that matter have a much more robust sounding CW note as compared to the SDR IC7300 for those that like a speaker. Using a headset it's a toss up (until you turn the AGC back on for IC7300).
Hey Steve, Glad you posted this. I am thinking about our dog so I can buy the 7300. I want a 100w rig I can take back and forth to Hawaii as a carry on. I love the built in spectral displays new rigs have. Do you think the 7300 would be suitable? If I had a foam lined travel case made for it, I wonder if it would survive. Obviously your comparison with the Corsair showed the TenTec performed favorably, but I am not sure why it would not be fair to use the DSP on the ICOM. The DSP is probably intended to be used to help compensate for the lack of all that nice analog filtering. Doesn't matter, thanks for doing these. They are helpful.
Good to hear from you Jim. Actually the NR feature removes noise but also weak signals. The 7300 is by far the best deal around. BTW: The display on the 7300 is way ahead of the competition. Resolution is better than the TS-990 for $7,000. It will be a while before the other mfg. can catch up. What dog?
Actually the IC-7300 has definitely more receiver noise than the Corsair 2. You can hear the slight "hang" of the Corsair's audio-derieved AGC even at the fast setting compared to the fast AGC of the IC-7300. This could be improved by changing the hang time constant on the IF/AF board. In fact the Corsair 2 IS the better receiver in terms of LO noise, large signal capability, dynamic range and pre-selection. Also its transmitter is well designed with rugged components especially at the LPF board. I guess no antenna of any kind will ever drive the receiver in saturation. Ten Tec really did a lot of things very well with the Corsair 2: The receive signal passes the low pass filters followed by the T/R switch and a high pass filter against strong medium wave signals and then passes through narrow band filters. The diode receiver mixer is followed by an attenuator and is the fed into the first IF filter (2.4 kHz at 9 MHz), goes to the passband tuning IF (6.3 MHz) to another crystal filter and back to 9 MHz for the product detector. There are always 2 filters chained at reception. The transmitter works as a single superhet with 9 MHz IF only which uses the 90 MHz 2.4 kHz filter as the transmit filter. - A downside of the rig is that the crystal filters develop a wobble in their passband or the center frequency is off due to aging of the capacitors. It takes a lot of time to check and rebuild the filters to get the original performance or just use replacement filters from Inrad. The #282 250 Hz 4-pole CW filter is prone to this issue and should be replaced by the 250 Hz 8-pole filter made by Inrad. In contrast the IC-7300 offers more bells and whistles and of course the ultra-fast band scope and it is a lot more compact than the Ten Tec. QSK cannot be done without any load relay clicking at the Icom and if you have very large antennas or broadband type antennas and a lot of stations nearby, the IC-7300 might not be the right choice for you. The receiver is lacking good pre-selection and large signal capability. But for the average ham, the IC-7300 is a really nice rig.
The 7300 has much greater dynamic range. Both require a LP filter for local BC overload. The audio filter in the Corsair would greatly benefit the 7300 but I wanted to be fair.
What is your opinion of the Omni D series C? Just got one last week and am enjoying a lot. Has a small amount of warble when adjusting the PTO very lightly while tuning in a CW station sometimes. Would like to replace every capacitor in this radio, realign and try to tweak it as best as I can.
Oh sorry...You haven't heard? That horrendous racket produced by modern receivers contains hidden, subliminal messages telling us to buy more of their products. This started at the onset of the Japanese radio invasion during the 70's. The messages berated all U.S. manufactured products and heaped praise upon the imports. Within a short time hams became enamored with beeps, blinks and buttons of all sorts. Japanese car manufactures soon caught on and contracted with the radio manufactures to embed their car commercials. It's also a fact that the Japanese infiltrated TenTec and assisted in the creation of the Paragon, Omni VI and others. You will notice the huge increase in residual noise from these rigs. The Corsair II is the last vestige of pure radio. It is the epitome of all that's good and pure in ham transceivers with the exception of that disgusting sidetone!
TenTec always had great receivers and good audio. Their selectivity and filters seemed to be geared toward cw.
Thanks for the comparison and the reminder that just because it is newer, doesn't mean it is better. I have a Ten-Tec Omni D, the predecessor to the Corsair. I have made some modifications to improve receive audio over the years thanks to Ten-Tec providing detailed module descriptions and schematics in the manual. Despite being over 40 years old, it receives just as well as most new rigs and has significantly less noise on the receive audio making it a very pleasant radio to use for extended periods (like Field Day). I also routinely get compliments on how great it sounds on the air.
I usually use one of my Corsair II's for Field Day over the last ~30 years. The CII has always been an excellent performer. I would like to try an INRAD roofing filter for giggles. They can make a huge difference on my Omni 6+ xcvrs.
Shame Jack Burchfield sold of TT in pieces instead of working out an employee buyout. Not sure the new owner is going to be able to keep it going after so many years of no engineering work having been done; I wish him the best!
I have the Tentec Omni VII and its reciever is very quiet. I also have a older Icom 751A with very narrow filters it is on par with the TenTec Omni. The 7300 is an entry level radio and for that it works well but you just proved the 7300 fell flat on its face as compared to the Corsair. Thanks for making this video.
Thanks for doing the test Steve. I guessed the Corsair II would probably do better. Despite having a few more modern rigs in the shack, I nearly always turn to my TenTec Corsair II for CW. As well as rx performance nearly always being better, the QSK on tx is still phenomenal. Still haven't used a rig that has faster/smoother QSK than a Corsair II. Only issue I had with my Corsair II was the PTO was too unstable by modern standards and was a bit unreliable. So, I installed a N4YG DDS VFO. Now there is no drift and I can operate split without an external VFO 😊.
My first rig was a Corsair. Have to get me another old TT someday. Busy with kits and transformers now. The little 817 has a great rx too. I was tuning in to a signal the other day on the 817 and thought, that's a little light. Then noticed TWO (not one but 2) antenna switches in "other" positions. All the signal I was hearing was jumping though the void of "not connected". 7300 won't quite do that for me. On a big signal it'll hear bleedthrough of one switch barely, but not two. I'd like to test more.
Just got my first Ten-Tec last week, an Omni D. The CW signals just ring in sweet.
I was wondering if it was me or not but I really like the sound of the Corsair better even though the 7300 is newer tech.
It's not you, the Corsair sounds much clearer indeed!
@@Mikael5732 yes Corsair sounds amazing comparing to noisy rise box...
Ten tec sound Much BETTER.
You forgot to set the RF gain of both radios to the same noise level before the comparison.
Corsair is awesome, if TenTec still made them, i'd likely buy one.. I own a Jupiter and the SDR receiver is pretty hard to beat for CW. Interestingly enough I got a 7300 ordered!
It is still hard to beat this American legend by the rice box, haha :))) If you will play a bit with RF Gain on the Corsair then the difference could be even much bigger. Congrats for your Corsair II !
nice video Steve. Can you make a vidie comparison in SSB as well? Would be great.
73 as Mark
friend has a 7300 and Corsair II loves the 7300
but when running CW prefers the Corsair
TT blows Icom away. Icom - with all that NOISE! Ten Tec Corsairs produced late 1982 - 1985. Hmmm 36 years ago.
Is it possible to adjust the AGC-T on the 7300?
Both radios have an "RF GAIN" control.... Both are turned fully max for comparison.
Forgive the brightness problem. The waterfall on the 7300 looks correct in real life. It is not being overloaded.
Only Flex has AGC-T
Thank you so much for this comparison. I have an IC-7300 and felt i missed the filters I once had in old Kenwood radios. However, in the last few years I only had the Icom. My 96 y.o. Elmer, W5NJJ, now in a nursing home gave me an old, but well cared for Corsair. I’m fifteen minutes from firing up the Corsair, and I found this video. I was so happy to hear what I expected I[d hear. I know that my CW work will really take off now that I have a Ten Tec again. I let go an Omni in the 80s because it drifted. However, i cannot express my love and gratitude to my old Elmer adequately. That’s what radio is about: Giving of ourselves to help one another.
Corsair II Wins!!! It sounds much quieter and louder, and overall more pleasant. It's a beautiful and superb rig. Very cool comparison. Thanks for posting!
agree
Corsair definitely clearer
The Corsair II is far better ...as expected. I like the TT sound.
RGO ONE is also closer to Corsair II than IC7300, I have both...
Agreed that NR "ON" with IC7300 is not a fair comparison, but turning off AGC and using manual RF Gain on IC7300 should be fair. ;-) Doing this the comparison is much closer between Corsair II and 7300. I prefer Corsair II for CW and prefer IC7300 greatly for FT8 - hihi. Corsair II and FT450D for that matter have a much more robust sounding CW note as compared to the SDR IC7300 for those that like a speaker. Using a headset it's a toss up (until you turn the AGC back on for IC7300).
Hey Steve,
Glad you posted this. I am thinking about our dog so I can buy the 7300. I want a 100w rig I can take back and forth to Hawaii as a carry on. I love the built in spectral displays new rigs have. Do you think the 7300 would be suitable? If I had a foam lined travel case made for it, I wonder if it would survive.
Obviously your comparison with the Corsair showed the TenTec performed favorably, but I am not sure why it would not be fair to use the DSP on the ICOM. The DSP is probably intended to be used to help compensate for the lack of all that nice analog filtering.
Doesn't matter, thanks for doing these. They are helpful.
Good to hear from you Jim. Actually the NR feature removes noise but also weak signals. The 7300 is by far the best deal around. BTW: The display on the 7300 is way ahead of the competition. Resolution is better than the TS-990 for $7,000. It will be a while before the other mfg. can catch up. What dog?
Actually the IC-7300 has definitely more receiver noise than the Corsair 2. You can hear the slight "hang" of the Corsair's audio-derieved AGC even at the fast setting compared to the fast AGC of the IC-7300. This could be improved by changing the hang time constant on the IF/AF board.
In fact the Corsair 2 IS the better receiver in terms of LO noise, large signal capability, dynamic range and pre-selection. Also its transmitter is well designed with rugged components especially at the LPF board. I guess no antenna of any kind will ever drive the receiver in saturation. Ten Tec really did a lot of things very well with the Corsair 2: The receive signal passes the low pass filters followed by the T/R switch and a high pass filter against strong medium wave signals and then passes through narrow band filters. The diode receiver mixer is followed by an attenuator and is the fed into the first IF filter (2.4 kHz at 9 MHz), goes to the passband tuning IF (6.3 MHz) to another crystal filter and back to 9 MHz for the product detector. There are always 2 filters chained at reception. The transmitter works as a single superhet with 9 MHz IF only which uses the 90 MHz 2.4 kHz filter as the transmit filter. - A downside of the rig is that the crystal filters develop a wobble in their passband or the center frequency is off due to aging of the capacitors. It takes a lot of time to check and rebuild the filters to get the original performance or just use replacement filters from Inrad. The #282 250 Hz 4-pole CW filter is prone to this issue and should be replaced by the 250 Hz 8-pole filter made by Inrad.
In contrast the IC-7300 offers more bells and whistles and of course the ultra-fast band scope and it is a lot more compact than the Ten Tec. QSK cannot be done without any load relay clicking at the Icom and if you have very large antennas or broadband type antennas and a lot of stations nearby, the IC-7300 might not be the right choice for you. The receiver is lacking good pre-selection and large signal capability. But for the average ham, the IC-7300 is a really nice rig.
The 7300 has much greater dynamic range. Both require a LP filter for local BC overload. The audio filter in the Corsair would greatly benefit the 7300 but I wanted to be fair.
The 7300 needs AGCT. Surprised that Icom would bring out 2 SDR rigs without AGCT.
What is your opinion of the Omni D series C? Just got one last week and am enjoying a lot. Has a small amount of warble when adjusting the PTO very lightly while tuning in a CW station sometimes. Would like to replace every capacitor in this radio, realign and try to tweak it as best as I can.
Your opinion?
We're in big trouble.
What do you mean?
Oh sorry...You haven't heard? That horrendous racket produced by modern receivers contains hidden, subliminal messages telling us to buy more of their products. This started at the onset of the Japanese radio invasion during the 70's. The messages berated all U.S. manufactured products and heaped praise upon the imports. Within a short time hams became enamored with beeps, blinks and buttons of all sorts. Japanese car manufactures soon caught on and contracted with the radio manufactures to embed their car commercials. It's also a fact that the Japanese infiltrated TenTec and assisted in the creation of the Paragon, Omni VI and others. You will notice the huge increase in residual noise from these rigs. The Corsair II is the last vestige of pure radio. It is the epitome of all that's good and pure in ham transceivers with the exception of that disgusting sidetone!
Not that you are biased at all! Entertaining comments
So feel free to spread the warning. I've just learned that the Russians are trying to affect our elections via noise from certain SDR receivers.
The old Corsair has a way better receiver!!!?