The ALT-512 is now listed and among the top 20 transceivers on Rob Sherwood’s (NC0B) list of Receiver Performance Data.  It has a very high utility value and an unbeatable price in this group of top performers.

Although the Elecraft KX3 justifies its higher acquisition costs by even better performance, the ALT-512 shines with the best price/performance of the group.

In a lecture Rob Sherwood has linked his listing of laboratory results with his practical experience in radio operation, mostly during big contests. He believes that everything better than 90dB is fully suitable for his classification criterion Third-Order Dynamic Range (DR3). With 91db, the ALT-512 meets this condition well, and at a price that is significantly lower than the price of the other Transceivers meeting this requirement.

Rick, DJ0IP, had the idea to express this in numbers by calculating the cost per dB Dynamic-3.  With the ALT-512, this is 8,79 Euro/dB, followed by the Icom 7300 with 12,05 Euro/dB (based on street prices in DL – August 2019).

The KX3 with 12,19 Euro/dB is not far behind, while the second placed transceiver on Rob’s performance list, the Elecraft K3S with its 25,00 Euro/dB, emphasizes financially that it belongs to the absolute upper class.

Or, stating the results a different way: If you want to have significantly better performance than the ALT-512 offers, you have to put almost 1000 Euro more on the table.

In today's Man-Made-Noise-Contaminated times, the ALT-512 is a real ‘/p’ device that can also be used as an alternative home station due to its excellent technical characteristics.

As when testing the ‘Tramp’ and other QRP transceivers in the past, I injected the RX with a strong keyed CW signal in close proximity of a very quiet CW signal. With the ALT-512 in CW mode with 50 Hz Filter selected, I could operate as close as 200 Hz next to the interfering signal before I noticed any negative influence of the desired signal. Try this with your own devices, it's fun :-)