On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Tom H wrote:
> here's my question: If the Argonout series was so popular, and seem to
> continue to be, why were they dropped from the product line?
Can't speak for the Marketing Department at Ten*Tec, but I'll take a stab
at it.
The LAST (Best?) Arognaut was the model 515. It is pre-WARC, so there
would have been a ton of engineering to make it current (1982 technology),
At that same time, Ten*Tec was getting it's hat handed to them by the
Japanese because the Top-of-the-line OMNI Series C was competing against
all the PLL digital do-dad rigs from the east.
Hams were getting used to the general coverage features on the off shore
appliances. The thought at that time was the radio was "better" if it had
more buttons and dial on it. Look at a TS-940 (mid-80's rig).
Now... on top of that, the Ten*Tecs back then were pretty much hand-made
by those little ladies from the foothills of the Smokys. That's some
pretty labor intensive manufacturing.
QRP was NOWHERE near as popular as it is today. Next time some bonehead
on the repeater whines about the internet killing ham radio, smile to
yourself and thank Chuck for QRP-L coming into existance in 1994 (or was
it 93?).
73! =paul= W8KC
Collector of Ten*Tecs and other fine plastics
<http://www.acs.oakland.edu/~prvalko>
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