Radio Presets
A radio preset gives the transmitter the character of a class of real equipment: how clean the signal is, how much power is available, how hard the amplifier compresses, how much hum and phase noise are present. Selecting a preset overwrites the power field and all Advanced Transmitter Settings; individual values can be edited afterwards.
Presets are simulation starting points that represent classes of equipment, not measured laboratory profiles of specific radios.
Preset list
| Preset | Power (W) | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Generic HF transceiver | 100 | Neutral modern transceiver, the default starting point. |
| Clean lab exciter | 10 | Near-ideal signal source: no compression, very low noise, excellent carrier and sideband suppression. Useful as a reference. |
| Icom IC-7300 class HF rig | 100 | Clean modern SDR-based 100 W transceiver. |
| Icom IC-705 class QRP SDR | 10 | Clean low-power portable SDR. |
| Icom IC-7610 class base SDR | 100 | High-end base station, very clean output. |
| Yaesu FTDX10 class HF SDR | 100 | Modern hybrid SDR transceiver. |
| Elecraft KX2/KX3 class QRP | 10 | High-quality low-power portable. |
| Yaesu FT-817/818 class QRP | 5 | Older portable design: modest headroom, more compression and hum. |
| Kenwood TS-590 class HF rig | 100 | Clean conventional 100 W transceiver. |
| Xiegu G90 class portable HF | 20 | Budget portable: audible compression and a rougher signal. |
| (tr)uSDX / uSDX QRP Class-E | 5 | Minimalist kit radio: heavy compression, significant distortion and drift artifacts. |
| Rugged HF manpack | 20 | Military-style manpack: robust but not clean. |
| Vintage tube SSB | 100 | Tube-era transmitter: soft compression, hum, slow keying. |
| Collins KWM-2 class tube SSB | 100 | Classic tube SSB station. |
| Vintage AM boatanchor | 50 | Full-carrier AM transmitter with strong hum and character. High modulation index. |
| Overdriven export AM/SSB | 25 | Deliberately dirty CB-style export radio: overmodulation, splatter, poor suppression. |
| Budget VHF/UHF handheld FM | 5 | Inexpensive FM handheld. |
| Homebrew Class-E AM | 10 | Home-built high-efficiency AM rig, full modulation. |
| Overdriven driver / poor ALC | 25 | Worst-case example: extreme drive, minimal headroom, heavy distortion and noise. |
Choosing a preset
- For intelligibility tests and clean comparisons, use Clean lab exciter.
- For realistic amateur operation, pick a preset in the class of radio being simulated; the 100 W transceiver presets behave similarly with small differences in compression and noise.
- The dirty presets (Overdriven export AM/SSB, Overdriven driver / poor ALC, (tr)uSDX) are useful for practising recognition of poor signals on a receiver.
Low-headroom, high-drive presets heat the amplifier faster at a given power, see Power Amplifier Behaviour.