TOP 20 TRANSCEIVERS' RECEIVER'S PERFORMANCE

RECEIVER PERFORMANCE:

One of THE Most Important Decision Criteria for a New Radio.


A well-know resource listing data on Receiver Performance is Rob Sherwood's (NC0B) "Receiver Test Data" List.


The list shows 14 different columns of  RX performance parameters, currently for 158 different radios, dating back to the late 1970s.

IMPORTANT: the list is sorted by "2-kHz 3rd-order dynamic range (DR3)". 

This is only one of many factors that affect a receiver's performance.  In some cases, other factors influence performance just as much or more.


Unfortunately, any list can only be sorted by one parameter, so NO LIST can rank the radios by their ultimate performance, because the importance of each parameter varies according to "how the operator is using the radio". 

EXAMPLES:


  • Single user, operating home (or portable) with no other hams operating simultaneously in the near vicinity.


  • Participating in a Multi-Transmitter event, such as a Multi-TX Contest Station, or a U.S. Club's Field Day Station.


  • Casual "day-to day" QSOs when bands are sometimes half-dead and other times (i.e., weekends) quite full with stations.


  • Operating MAJOR Contests (i.e., 'CQWW DX' or 'ARRL DX', etc.), and making a serious attempt to win the contest.

Rob Sherwood CLEARLY STATES:


"The table ranking is NOT an overall performance ranking.

  The ranking is ONLY by 2-kHz DR3."


I have taken the liberty to list the current (August 2025) Top 20 Transceivers on Rob's list into 3 columns, with each column ranking by a different performance criteria.  ALL DATA is taken from Rob's Receiver Test Data list.

The Chart Below Ranks the Radios by:


  • 3rd order Dynamic Range (2 kHz)


  • Reciprocal Mixing Dynamic Range


  • Blocking Gain Compression Dynamic Range

As can be seen in the chart, the ranking of the radios changes somewhat, depending on which criteria we rank them by.


Example 1: Looking 'only' at the DR3 list,  the FT-710 is in 2nd place... just 1/2 dB behind the FTdx10.  Not bad for a radio costing just $1k!


However, if we look at the BGCDR list, The FT-710 is only in 10th place.

What this means is, when used "home alone", it is an outstanding performer, but when used in the presence of other radios transmitting simultaneously in the near vicinity , it is 18 dB worse than its Big Brother, the FTdx10.

Example 2: The Kenwood TS-990S is at the bottom of the list for DR3, yet it is near the top of the lists in RMDR and BGCDR.

Notes:


  • Local Oscillator Noise is also an important performance criteria, but fundamentally its is reflected in the RMDR number.  LO Noise is 27 dB higher than RMDR.


  • Sensitivity is no longer a problem.  All radios in this list have sufficient sensitivity.


  • The IC-7300 MKII is not shown here because it is not yet available and not on Rob's list.