I own an Omni VI +. It is the first and so far the only Ten-Tec
transceiver I have owned. I bought it used about six months ago. I
wanted it because I had read the it has one of the quietest (lowest MDS)
and high resistance to front end overload receivers available, and
because of the legendary Ten-Tec QSK. When I first powered it up and
heard birdies (I do not remember whether I had an antenna or a 50 ohm
terminator hooked to it) on 160 meters I was shocked. I feared I had
made a big mistake, and that either all the good things I had read about
these radios was false, or at least only true on the higher bands, or
maybe I bought a lemon. Then I started making A/B comparisons with my
TS-440. I tuned to weak signals (real ones from tha antenna), just above
the noise floor on the Omni and tried to find them with the TS-440. I
could not find them because the noise floor on the TS-440 was too high.
Then by using weak external signals as amplitude references to compare
the strength of the birdies in the Omni to the noise floor of TS-440, I
determined that except for a few really strong birdies (which are at
frequencies that don't matter much) all of the birdies on the Omni are
lower than the noise floor on the TS-440.... Just so you don't
misinterpret what I am saying, I am not listening for the Omni's birdies
with the TS-440. What I am doing is listening to a real signal that is
equal in strength to a birdie on the Omni, and then listening to the
same real signal on the 440....So my conclusion is that while the
birdies are bothersome they do not keep me from hearing any real signal
that I would be able to hear with the TS-440. In my opinion a few weak
birdies is much better than an overall higher noise level across the
whole band. So the Omni is a major improvement for me. And in a crowded
band with strong local signals I can pick out weak ones I would never be
able to hear with the TS-440. I realize that the TS-440 is not a top of
the line radio. So maybe if I were comparing with a TS-950, or an
FT-1000 I would find the birdies in the Omni actually stronger than the
noise floors of those radios. Those rigs are not available to me so I do
not know. In any case I am quite happy with my Omni VI.
DE Ken N6KB
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