I received my X100T a couple of days ago. It's an impressive receiver. Though I'm a little disappointed with the X100T's airband performance compared to my Icom R30. When monitoring approach, departure and tower traffic for the Indianapolis International Airport (I'm 24 miles away), both radios perform well with the R30 still having a performace advantage.
Though when monitoring aircraft in the Indianapolis ARTCC, where many aircraft are at cruising altitudes and at far distances, the R30 is considerably better than the X100T. There were quite a few R30 transmissions received that didn't even open the squelch on the X100T. There are also many weak signals received that were audible on the R30, but inaudible on the X100T. There is no doubt that the R30 controls noise much better. TBH, the X100T is a noisy radio on the airbands. The noise levels are way too high. Reducing the volume obviuosly doesn't work well because you are also reducing the voice signal. I've also tried using the attenuator, but without sucess. Is there another setting that can help lower the noise levels?
With the above said, I need to acknowledge that I was using identical whip antennas on both receivers and I was indoors. Lastly, I'm still glad I purchased the X100T because it wasn't going to be my primary airband receiver to begin with. Perhaps I'm asking a little too much for the X100T to match the airband performed of the R30, but I expect it to still be somewhat competitive, which it isn't. I'll post a video soon demostrating both radios on the airband.
Though when monitoring aircraft in the Indianapolis ARTCC, where many aircraft are at cruising altitudes and at far distances, the R30 is considerably better than the X100T. There were quite a few R30 transmissions received that didn't even open the squelch on the X100T. There are also many weak signals received that were audible on the R30, but inaudible on the X100T. There is no doubt that the R30 controls noise much better. TBH, the X100T is a noisy radio on the airbands. The noise levels are way too high. Reducing the volume obviuosly doesn't work well because you are also reducing the voice signal. I've also tried using the attenuator, but without sucess. Is there another setting that can help lower the noise levels?
With the above said, I need to acknowledge that I was using identical whip antennas on both receivers and I was indoors. Lastly, I'm still glad I purchased the X100T because it wasn't going to be my primary airband receiver to begin with. Perhaps I'm asking a little too much for the X100T to match the airband performed of the R30, but I expect it to still be somewhat competitive, which it isn't. I'll post a video soon demostrating both radios on the airband.
