New Toy!!!!

[W5IEI]

http://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=819583

I made a deal for this station yesterday,and will send a check today.
This will be my third Omni V.
I think I'll do the Inrad 2.8 treatment on this one.
If it's as clean as he says,it should be a nice one.
The 238 tuner is excellent as well,I;m using one now.
Mike

[N8YX]

What's your opinion of the Paragon II, Mike - ever get to play with one of them?

[W5IEI]

John,
I've never had a Paragon.When I saw the first ad for one in QST,I fell in love with the look.
Then the Omni V was released,ham bands only,no synthesizer=no synthesizer noise!

I'm forced on 160,75,and 40 to use a NB because of oilfield telemetry,and the phase noise is a killer.
I've heard many of them on the air,and they sound great,also most owners of the Paragon swear by them.
Mike

[N4VGB]

I've played with the Paragon II at TenTec and at the home of now SK W2IQ/Hank Clark of Dandridge,TN. Hank was a field tester for TenTec via his long frienship with K4FW/Al Kahn.

At the time I thought the Paragon II was a better rcvr than most of the Japanese rigs costing much more.

[N8YX]

I've played with the Paragon II at TenTec and at the home of now SK W2IQ/Hank Clark of Dandridge,TN. Hank was a field tester for TenTec via his long frienship with K4FW/Al Kahn.

At the time I thought the Paragon II was a better rcvr than most of the Japanese rigs costing much more.
I've heard the synthesizers in the original Paragon were noisy and prone to failure...not so with the II. What (if anything) did you notice in the way of artifacting or phase noise, Mack?

[N4VGB]

I've played with the Paragon II at TenTec and at the home of now SK W2IQ/Hank Clark of Dandridge,TN. Hank was a field tester for TenTec via his long frienship with K4FW/Al Kahn.

At the time I thought the Paragon II was a better rcvr than most of the Japanese rigs costing much more.
I've heard the synthesizers in the original Paragon were noisy and prone to failure...not so with the II. What (if anything) did you notice in the way of artifacting or phase noise, Mack?

Oh the phase noise was there, but not as much as most Japanese rigs of the same time period. I recall Hank telling me he wasn't pleased with the first Paragons, but he liked his II FB.

Of course the difference would be obvious in a side by side test of the Paragons compared to the newer TenTecs using short PLL mixed with crystals.

[W3WN]

http://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=819583

I made a deal for this station yesterday,and will send a check today.
This will be my third Omni V.
I think I'll do the Inrad 2.8 treatment on this one.
If it's as clean as he says,it should be a nice one.
The 238 tuner is excellent as well,I;m using one now.
Mike
Nice.

I traded by TS-480SAT for an Omni VI+. Rig came a week ago, but I only had time to get it all hooked up this weekend. It came equipped with a bunch of Inrad filters, boy, does it sound nice.

My poor Corsair is temporarily on the sidelines until I build a new shelf in the shack for the VI.

[KG4CGC]

Scroll down to the lineage section. Interesting read overall for the TT noob.

http://home.comcast.net/~w8kc/lineage.htm (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ew8kc/lineage.htm)

[W3WN]

Scroll down to the lineage section. Interesting read overall for the TT noob.

http://home.comcast.net/~w8kc/lineage.htm (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ew8kc/lineage.htm)

Who's a noob?

There's a whole Wiki on Ten-Tec, although I don't have the link here at work. And I know there was a Virtual Ten-Tec museum online, but the owner of it became a SK a few years back & I don't know if the site is still active.

When I worked at the (now defunct) Westech Electronics, we sold a lot of Ten-Tec gear. I never cared for the Argonaut 509 or 515, but then I thought the Argosy & Argosy-D (aka Argosy II) was a better QRP rig, more versatile that the Argonauts. The rig I always wanted, though, was a Corsair. For the money, it outperformed the TS-930S where it counted, on the air, even though it didn't have all the bells and whistles.

Sadly, too many wanted the bells & whistles.

And when the Omni's replaced the Corsairs as the top of the line rigs, I really wanted one.

Today's shack now has a Corsair II, an Omni VI+, and a heavily butchered, er, modified PM-2B. (Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I'll get some pictures taken!) Had a Triton IV for awhile, but had to sell that when I downsized the shack a few years ago after I lost my job *sigh*

Still hoping to get my hands on an Argosy one day, although you have to be careful, as the finals for that rig turned out to be made of Unobtanium. And a friend is considering disposing of his Argonaut V, so if he decides to do so and we can work something out...

[KG4CGC]

Who's a noob?


I am a noob to Ten Tec.
That's who.

[W3WN]

I am a noob to Ten Tec.
That's who.
Oh. OK. I won't argue.

[KG4CGC]

I have to run out and find a 12vdc 20 amp circuit breaker per Ten Tec's instructions for the power cable for the Corsair.
Automotive shops should be the ticket.

[W3WN]

I have to run out and find a 12vdc 20 amp circuit breaker per Ten Tec's instructions for the power cable for the Corsair.
Automotive shops should be the ticket.

I'm not so sure about that.

The breakers used to be made by a company called Airpax. I believe they're now available through another source, but I can't think of it off-hand.

Ask on the Ten Tec Reflector (located on contesting.com). Better to get the right part. It's a good rig, but who wants to spend money fixing problems that could have been avoided?

[kb2vxa]

Automotive breakers are usually self reset after a cool down period, do you really like surprises? You'll find plenty here, take your pick.
http://www.google.com/products?q=12V+20A+circuit+breaker&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=eKTpS_yZI4WKlwea-JjsCg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CD4QrQQwAw

[KG4CGC]

It just needs to be 10x faster than a fuse. It needs to trip in one tenth the time it takes a fuse to heat up to trip.

[KG4CGC]

The recommended breaker is a magnetic type.

[WØTKX]

You need the Airpax, or equivalent. I have two, as I have a Ten Tec fetish.

Use a 15 amp fastblow fuse as a temporary fix, and keep it to 60 watts.

BTW, this is the Ten Tec Wiki... http://www.tentecwiki.org/doku.php?id=1140

Also, most of the Ten Tec PA outputs (especially older) don't tolerate < 50 Ohms impedance, but can handle >50, Check your antenna with an analyzer or bridge to find out what the impedance is, if you are running a mildly high SWR.

Warning. Ten Tec prosletyzing... :rant: :lol:

Current Ten Tec rigs...

Omni D Series B, all crystals, NB installed, w/external VFO & PS; no WARC
Omni D Series C, all crystals, w/external VFO & PS; WARC (but 17 meters is goofy)

These old radios blow me away... quiet, listenable (external speaker better), sensitive and selective. Amazing QSK. Spooky, actually. Did my research when I got back into the hobby, and picked the Omni D as my first rig after being out of radio for 26 years. Keepers.

Delta II

Got some birdies, but not horrible. General coverage RX and TX, as "Mars Mod" was a secret key press on startup. Odd button layout, but you get used to it. Will do 100% duty cycle at 100 watts w/o cooking itself. Great QSK, plus that weirdo Jones filter works damn good. But, Omni D is better.

Pegasus

What a blast to play with. DSP is adaptive, no settings... lots of bandwidth options. I have the external programmable knob. Really great for SWL listening, especially Utility SWL stuff. Kind of in-between the Omni D and the Delta in performance. Requires a computer to even use it, as it's an early form of an SDR radio... proprietary firmware running on an early Dragonball processor. Will actually transmit ESSB wider than my TS-850 w/DSP-100. Works great with transverters, because you can set the display frequency really easily. The N4PY software rocks.

Transverter Kits

2m to 6m, I use with my Icom IC-251. Instant 6n2 rig, it's fun. Total cost, about $200.
20m to 6m, recently acquired... for the Pegasus.
Un-built 10m to 2m. This last one will be modded to do 220mhz. I want another one, then the Pegasus could do 50/144/220.

And to think, I don't have a Ten Tec t-shirt, ballcap, or coffee mug. :dunno:

BTW, I prefer the orange dot to the black dot logo. :geek:

[KG4CGC]

http://www.pocosales.com/
Waiting for these people to send back a quote as per their instructions.

[WØTKX]

http://www.evilscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/excellent-frog.JPG

[N8YX]

I need another radio like I need a hole in the head, but one of these days I want to put a 6+ / Paragon II pair in the shack and see what they'll do.

[KG4CGC]

I think that once you go Ten, you never go back again. :)

[KG4CGC]

http://www.evilscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/excellent-frog.jpg
excellent!

[W3WN]

< snip >And to think, I don't have a Ten Tec t-shirt, ballcap, or coffee mug. :dunno:

BTW, I prefer the orange dot to the black dot logo. :geek: Hey, at least I have the coffee mug. But let's not restart the great Dot Color War... that belongs on the Ten Tec reflector, where it came from! :-P

Seriously, nice station line up. Once I get the shack settled, we are going to have to make a sked.

I would love to get my hands on a Pegasus/Jupiter one of these days... or better yet, an Omni VII... but I will have to be patient, as other things are rearing their ugly hands. Yes hands, as in give-me-your-money palms-up hands. After all, it took a few years, but I have my Corsair and Omni VI today!

[W3WN]

Oh, while I'm thinking of it, I heard this morning from my friend Jan KX2A on the breakers:
------------------------------------------
Ron,

I have an Airpax T11-1-0033, 20.0A-01-11c-V breaker. I bought it new for the Omni VI but never used it. This should be the "no delay" breaker that you want. Newark Electronics wants about $15 for what they have, I do not know if they have the right model. I will ship this one to you for 10 bucks.

You can also get it via Poco Sales, but be sure to start their wizard by saying you want a Snapak. If you have a problem, I can read the values off my breaker.
< snip > < you don't want to hear him brag about his new vertical >

Jan, KX2A
------------------------------------------
Jan's a good guy. Must be, he's put up with me for years!

[WØTKX]

Poco will take care of the bartender.

I got "lucky" on the Ten Tec reflector, and joined in with a bulk purchase from eBay. $22.00 for two, including shipping.

I will readily admit that my main HF radio is my Kenwood TS-850. Inrad filters and DSP-100. Great radio.

[KG4CGC]

I've contacted Poco twice. If they do not return my correspondence today, I will need to place a phone call and ask them if they're smoking that Humboldt Skunk Spanker.

[KG4CGC]

Checked ebay again last night, no luck there yet. There is one seller that has a bunch of that faux crap.

[W5IEI]

Hey guys,
My new station came in Monday,but I was working out of town until yesterday evening.
WOW!!!!!!
Did this guy send me a brand new rig?
It's beautiful!!!!!!
In my haste to get it hooked up,and try it out I didn't look at the serial # but will soon.

Got on the air with a regular 75 meter ragchew sked where I've met most of the guys in person,and glowing reports all around!

This is my 3rd 5,and by far the prettiest one.
The 238 matching tuner,and power supply are also beautiful.
The other two Omni V's I've had, had an annoying pop when you broke the alc,but this one is silent.
I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it,and my Orion II in blindfolded recieve tests.
More after more use.
Can you tell I love it?
This is what the Omni V is supposed to be like.
Mike

[KG4CGC]

Put in the order with Poco. Greg Porter was great to work with after my issues with the parts wizard yielded some obscure breaker that is only used on NASA shuttle flights. I know where to get one now if I plan to build a shuttle.
If you're a Ten Tec user, pick up a few of them as they are not expensive. I have a feeling they may have charged less than the $12.50 each if I ordered more that 2. I'll have a back up now and perhaps there may be another TT radio in my future.

T11-1-20.0A-01-11C-V

[W3WN]

2791
Put in the order with Poco. Greg Porter was great to work with after my issues with the parts wizard yielded some obscure breaker that is only used on NASA shuttle flights. I know where to get one now if I plan to build a shuttle.
If you're a Ten Tec user, pick up a few of them as they are not expensive. I have a feeling they may have charged less than the $12.50 each if I ordered more that 2. I'll have a back up now and perhaps there may be another TT radio in my future.

T11-1-20.0A-01-11C-V

[KG4CGC]

Hey guys,
My new station came in Monday,but I was working out of town until yesterday evening.
WOW!!!!!!
Did this guy send me a brand new rig?
It's beautiful!!!!!!
In my haste to get it hooked up,and try it out I didn't look at the serial # but will soon.

Got on the air with a regular 75 meter ragchew sked where I've met most of the guys in person,and glowing reports all around!

This is my 3rd 5,and by far the prettiest one.
The 238 matching tuner,and power supply are also beautiful.
The other two Omni V's I've had, had an annoying pop when you broke the alc,but this one is silent.
I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it,and my Orion II in blindfolded recieve tests.
More after more use.
Can you tell I love it?
This is what the Omni V is supposed to be like.
Mike
Fantastic!
Sometimes I like to joke around that, it pulls the noise out of the mud so you can see the signal.

[KG4CGC]

Resurrecting for the holidays and for the circuit breaker model number from Poco.

[N8YX]

Adding to Mike's comments...

I really like my Omni V. Why didn't Ten-Tec retain the all-mode squelch that this model featured, and instead limited that function to FM mode only? Makes no sense on a radio which uses an RF Gain - rather than an IF Gain - to set receiver sensitivity.

Current HF lineup is 2x Paragon IIs, 1x Omni V, 1x Omni VI-Opt 3 and 2x Corsair IIs. Have room for 4 out of 6 on the lower area of my operating desk, so they'll get periodically rotated in and out. Need another 263G VFO, Herc-II amp and a 238 tuner. Then it's off to find a couple of Titan IIs.

[WØTKX]

As much as I dig Ten Tec, I'm seriously considering thinning the herd, and upgrading to the new generation Flex rigs. I really dig my Flex 3000.

The 6000 generation is on my radar. And yea, the all mode squelch is wonderful.