Being Saturday evening, I had time to spend in the shack, so I thought if the band cooperated I might check in to the two CW nets.
The KYN, Kentucky CW Net, takes place at 8 p.m. on 3596 daily. Joe Miller, K4DZM came on frequency as NCS, though he was barely audible above the noise. The band was apparently long at this point. I copies several stations checking in, most of which were louder than Joe, but not by much. I opted not to try to check in.
The KSN, Kentucky Slow CW Net, takes place at 10 p.m. on 3579 daily. The band was better tonight, however, the frequency was awash with digital signals. I'm not sure of the protocol, but there was significant QRM just above the net frequency. It took some tuning, but between the DSP and other QRM-fighting tools, I was able to improve copy enough to reliably hear everyone on the net. I checked in and didn't have a problem with the net — unless I shut off all the filtering and DSP.
The FT-2000 receiver was impressive tonight in my battle with nearby signals. Would they IC-746PRO have fared as well? Probably, but without a side-by-side comparison, its hard to say. I would suggest that since I shelled out fairly big bucks for the FT-2000, it damn well better outperform the less expensive 746pro!