My only Ten-Tec rig was an Argo 509. I was very impressed with the receiver, except for the AGC pops. I sold it years ago, so a side by side comparison with my Drake 2B is not possible. If my memory is correct, I would give the edge to the 2B. I really like my 2B. Someday perhaps I can collect a Triton IV, Corsair, R-4B, TR-7, and compare them all side by side. I doubt I will ever spend the money on a Collins, but....
My impression of the early Ten-Tec's were that they tried to keep the price down more than Drake and much more than Collins. Cheaper cases, knobs, etc. The PTO rebuild frequency of the Ten-Tec may also stem from this as well. Ten-Tec definitely catered to the QSK CW crowd. I know that the Drake 4-line could be made to work QSK with an external T/R switch. Has anyone on list done this and can comment on the QSK performance? Escpecially how it compares to Ten-Tec's QSK. 73, Darrell Bellerive Amateur Radio Station VA7TO On 06/16/11 22:14, geoffrey mendelson wrote: > > On Jun 17, 2011, at 7:51 AM, Darrell Bellerive wrote: > >> In the 70's Ten-Tec had the Tritons, and early Omni's, with the Corsairs >> in the early 80's. > > > Before the Corsairs, with the Tritons, Argos, early OMNIs and Century > (21,22, 22 digital display) rigs Ten-Tec went for simplicity of design > and good sound. > > Compared to the design of the Colins (sophistocated and no expense > spared), the Drake (near genius), the Ten-Tec rigs look like they were > designed by copying pages from Doug DeMaw's books. > > I am NOT saying that the Ten-Tec rigs are poor performers, far from it. > For casual rag chewing, I'd put my Argo 509 or Trition IV Digital > (display, not oscillator) against any modern rig. > > In the Drake rigs I've seen every part is carefully placed, every wire > carefully run, every joint carefully soldered. My SPR-4 manual warns > against changing the length or route of wires as it may affect performance. > > I don't know if it would affect the Ten-Tec rigs in the same way, but it > does not seem so. The designs seem to be simple circuits. The Century > rigs have direct coversion receivers. > > Geoff. _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
