Well, you gotta admit it is one fine looking piece of equipment! It really is a nice addition to the ham shack. Before I picked it up, I spent some time looking through the user's manual, which Timewave provides at their web site. I found that to be well worth the time and effort. It gave me a lot more information than the ads and brochures .
One of the extras on the 599 is the dual channel audio jacks on the back panel. The DSP can handle input from two sources and provide output to two speakers (and line level outputs). Although the unit can only actively process audio from one source at a time, at least you do not need an A/B switch to handle your audio lines. When the A channel is being processed, the B audio bypasses the DSP engine and goes directly to the speaker. A very nice touch is the ability to attenuate the alternate channel (channel B in this case) up to 18 dB. I found that setting the alternate channel to about -6 dB seems to work just right. The front panel allows the user to switch between the two channels as needed. Speaking of audio routing and control, you can also mute the speaker(s) at any time too. The line level outputs remain unaffected.
The noise suppression seems to be most excellent. As for heterodynes, they don't stand a chance. Tuning 40 meters in the evening is actually quite an easy task. Speaking of 40 meters, the HP filter extends all the way up to 5 kHz, which makes this unit usable on AM and narrow band FM signals. Both the LP and HP filters are adjustable in 10 Hz steps. Another nice touch is the optical encoder controls. The filters are adjusted with these encoders, instead of the usual potentiometers. This provides for very smooth and exact settings.
The two line LCD display provides for an easy status check when used in conjunction with the other 13 LEDs. The filter settings are easily displayed, along with the channel, etc. LEDs indicate the mode of operation and provide indication of the various user selectable functions, such as noise reduction, tone, bypass, AGC, etc. There are also several user memories that can be programmed with configurations.
5/17/98 - A note that I thought I would put on this page. Yesterday, I picked up the new Yaesu FT-847 transceiver. It has an audio DSP built in. The 599 wins hands down. I noticed a number of hetrodynes that the 847 DSP could not remove. The 599 dropped them like a bad habit, no contest at all!
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