new RX

[WA1GFZ]

I'm listening to Frank AHE talk about BA receivers on my new TCI 8174 15 lbs
S meter calibrated in DBM great for antenna and strap tests. Can't wait to roll it up to the line against the 6830. Linear VS DSP grudge race winner takes on a 390A

[WA1GFZ]

Well first round of eliminations and the RA6830 takes the quarter for close in crud rejection and dynamic range. I guess the sleeper hot rod 6830 will not be needed
to win. The TCI DSP works quite well. The RF perfomance needs blue printing.
still a keeper with an s meter calibrated in dBM. MDS on 75 M is -130 dBM so it hears well. It might be cool to pipe the Racal 455 kHz IF into the TCI to see what happens. Might be the best of both worlds with Racal RF performance and TCI DSP. The Racal sync detector will be cool to comapre to the TCI dsp demodulator.
Still seems a bit weird to run a radio that looks like a large pizza box with 3 leds and 1 switch.

[Glenn NY4NC]

Frank;

Is this a PC controlled receiver?

Well first round of eliminations and the RA6830 takes the quarter for close in crud rejection and dynamic range. I guess the sleeper hot rod 6830 will not be needed
to win. The TCI DSP works quite well. The RF perfomance needs blue printing.
still a keeper with an s meter calibrated in dBM. MDS on 75 M is -130 dBM so it hears well. It might be cool to pipe the Racal 455 kHz IF into the TCI to see what happens. Might be the best of both worlds with Racal RF performance and TCI DSP. The Racal sync detector will be cool to comapre to the TCI dsp demodulator.
Still seems a bit weird to run a radio that looks like a large pizza box with 3 leds and 1 switch.

[WA1GFZ]

The TCI 8174 is a 1U rack mount RS232 controlled radio from a pc. Actually pretty cool with a calibrated s meter in dBM. The Racal RA6830 is a 1/2 rack updated from the RA6790. It is about 10 years newer than the common 6790. It has a key pad display and 3 knobs. I've been wanting to get a dsp radio to compare performance.
The cool thing about the TCI is that it has the same first and second if as the Racal,
40.455 MHz. and 455 KHz. This would allow a marriage.
The filters in the TCI 15 KHz and 6 KHz in the two IFs could be repalced with better Racal filters.   So far the analog RX is higher performance. It is also more complicated. The interesting thing about the dsp radio is that it is tighter than the Ten Tec 331.
one has to wonder about the real performance of the SDR with even less hardware.
The TCI is mid 90s design so not first generation DSP.

[W1UJR]

Frank, any photos for us?

Sounds cool, then again almost radio which is rack mounted is cool.

[WA1GFZ]

owners have been selling 1 a week on ebay. Average price is about $510.
They also have the TCI 8172 same as the 8174 but requires an external 10 mhz reference. 1 U rack about 24 inches deep. I have most of the manual if anyone needs it. I also have the TCI interface software running on XP pro.
The DSP works very well but have not run it through the gfz torture test yet.
A switch and 3 leds on the panel.