For decades Collins or Inrad filters, internal of external, have proven their quality. Of course such filters are expensive, from 150 € to more than 250 € per filter, and you need as much filters as you have bands to work. An all set of such filters can cost more than 600 €.

Now take the DSP noise reduction filters for example, that we found in most RTX. They are powerful features that no ham could no more bypass. In usual conditions, the adjustable noise blanker of Ten-Tec ORION (now replaced by Omni VII), the one of Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V or Yaesu FT-DX1200 is one of the best that you could hear.

On high-ends RTX the N.R. is perfect for all conditions. Cranking the noise blanker all the way helps you eliminating even the most stubborn pulse noise like power lines or engine noises that other NBs (e.g. those of Kenwood TS-570 or TS-480SAT) won't touch, without compromising audio quality. SSB audio is very customizable for either fidelity, or cutting through a pile up using compression.

That said,the N.R. offered on Icom IC-775DSP cannot reach the performances offered by the Collins filters installed in Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V among others rigs

Power side, like IC-7851, IC-7800, IC-775DSP and FT-1000MP Mark-V transmitters develop 200 W PEP out and do not even get warm during long SSB QSO or at 100 W using PSK31. This supplemental power may add a 3 dB to the TX signal, improving a bit a CW signal lost in QRM, or can be useful in driving an amplifier.

At last, many digital transceivers have a sub receiver, a very useful feature that allows you to listen at 2 frequencies at the same time.

Why using a double VFO ? Imagine that there are two pile-ups working on the 20m band. If the first station is hard to work you can switch to second one and try to work the second DX, keeping an ear on the lower station waiting a lull in the traffic.

A double VFO is also very appreciated in CW (or even SSB) when working a DX whose QSX frequency shifts regularly of a few kHz. So such a feature is great for spots and split operations.

The mid-end Kenwood TS-570D has well an A/B VFO push-button that can be very useful in split operations when the operator uses a fixed QSX (e.g. "up 5"), but it makes DX spotting moving in frequency (e.g. "5 to 10 up") or working in CW difficult at best !

Now the killing question : are high-end transceivers really worth their price in terms of performances and ergonomy ? Take for example Kenwood TS-2000 (~$2200 in 2000) and Yaesu FT-DX3000 ($3500 in 2012).

Kenwood TS-2000 looks nice with its many functions accessible from the front panel and its large LCD display. But a close look confirms that most of them require to push on two keys (FUNC + key) to active them. In conditions of heavy pile-up or QRM the design of both Kenwood is much less practical than a radio offering direct access keys and lights that warn you when some features are enabled. Last but not least, this transceiver shows very low dynamic ranges in term of blocking GC and IMD (even the small TS-480 has a better selectivity !).

At last, Yaesu FT-DX3000 seems to be an excellent performer based on the Blocking GC and IMD figures. But numbers do not mean that all is perfect, far to be. Indeed, in the field this transceiver is disappointing. The nice band scope is almost useless, and the access to many functions require 4 or more operations on the menu ! Then, under heavy noise, the AGC is not efficient. At last, using an amplifier the processing is almost in ALC (not better on Yaesu FT-DX5000 or FT-950) with no point in Class A. In fact, a mid-end transceiver like Kenwood TS-590SG gives better results ! By the way, en 2021 Yaesu announced they have discontinued production of the FT-DX3000 and FT-DX5000.

For short, a so-called high-end transceiver on paper does not mean that it is a great performer in the field. In this context, the reading of NC0B tests listed at the end of this page (PDF and PPT) are a valuable learning experience.

Your antenna system

The best transceiver is useless without a good antenna system, mainly for emitting. For an isolated ham working barefoot and using a vertical or a dipole antenna, it is sometimes hard to fight against competitors equipped with amplifiers and big guns, beams and other quads.

A QSO meaning a two-ways contact, it requests that the correspondent be able to hear you, and flood among the kW-class users your barefoot emitter has not much chance to work that DX station in the next hour !

The antenna should be directional with a substantial gain in order to well listen and be also heard by your DX station without losing too energy in side lobes. Even on shortwaves this is sometimes a challenge that requests patience and some voice when propagation vanishes. But prior establishing this contact, the transceiver must be properly coupled to the feed line and itself correctly coupled to the antenna.

When using a Yagi or a quad you will quickly discover that you have no more use, or almost, of a linear amplifier because the QRM of near stations has been reduced of 20 dB or more in all directions except in a narrow beam toward your DX station; now you are able to work the world with 100W or 200W PEP even during minima of the solar cycle or when propagation conditions are poor for low power or omnidirectional stations.

In fact using a directive antenna offering a high gain (say over 5 dBd with a F/B gain over 20 dB) we can say that you have practically a private conversation with your DX contact. This is of course a caricature but used together with a DSP transceiver, your beam can do miracles, or almost.

Working with a high-end transceiver and a big gun is thus very exciting as you really don't lose your time in calling DX in vain due to your small installation. Of course such equipements have a price and not everybody can invest a "fortune" in his or her installation. This is a question to debate between you and your conscience.

Be informed before buying

Whether you like ragchew in local QSOs, work DX stations or contests, you will recognize that depending on your activities on bands, the two main categories of transceiver, the mid- and high-ends (there are probably no more low-ends or "bad" transceivers on the market, except maybe some home-maded) give not similar results in the field.

There is on the one hand what states the marketing, and on the other hand what are using hams. Do never believe at 100% advertisings or salesmen. A bad dealer will prefer to sell you a transceiver in a brand where he makes the larger profit or till easier, because you accept to purchase it like a cat in a bag.

A transceiver being an expensive piece of hardware and often a durable investment (at least 10 years), you have interest to select it with care if you do not want to regret your purchase some weeks later.

To prevent any mistake you have no other choice that testing it to a friend or to ask to rent a model to your dealer to test it in your working conditions. This latter recommendation is however the most difficult to meet as few dealers accept to rent a RTX or any aerial knowing that most users abuse of this opportunity to use them in contests with the additional risk to no more be able to sale the product once used or damaged. Hopefully, for contests manufacturers can sometimes help you.