Hi Gary,
Welcome back to the ham bands. Meanwhile, while you were away, manufacturers
of ham radio equipment have been improving there produces steadily.
To answer your question, I have compared the TT Jupiter receiver to the
following rigs, IC-756 Proll, and (2) TS-850s. To put it quite frankly, the
Proll
and TS-850s are gone, they spent 99% of their time under dust covers anyway.
At present I have (3) rigs, a TS-830S (Gold Label) this rig is like a cherry
'49 Ford and is used only on special occasions, a TT Orion (this is my rig of
choice) and a TT Jupiter (which spends 99% of its time under a dust cover).
First, lets compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges.
(Oranges)
Software Defined Radios (SDR's) are in a class by themselves and to the best
of my knowledge Ten Tec is the only SDR manufacturer in the world. Since the
TT SDR's use an operating system their operation and performance is only
limited by processor speed, bus speed and programming (like a PC). In other
words,
if you buy an SDR you are guaranteed many years of service and do not have to
be concerned with buying a new rig every year. TT SDR's are upgraded with new
software and uploaded from their site via the Internet. Its like getting a new
Service Pack for your PC's Windows system.
(Apples)
Kenwood, Icom and Yeasu rigs are all very nice rigs......but they are apples
and should not be compared to Oranges.
You, being a CW operator, which I am not, I would expect that one of your top
concerns is receiver flexibility and performance. The TT Orion is the only
rig on the market today that offers multi (7 user selectable) first IF roofing
filters and fully programmable AGC. Not to mention all the other features that
are available for excellent signal reception.
Your past experience with ham radio equipment has been with "Apples", like
mine. I entered into the world of SDR "Oranges" about 2.5 years ago and this is
where I'm staying.
Another way of looking at this whole "Apples" and "Oranges" thing is to think
back when IBM (Apples) and (DOS operating system) was king and then Bill
Gates comes along and says "I've got a better idea, lets do it this way"
(Oranges)
and (Windows).....the rest is history.
You cant put enough electronic components in a transceiver that will ever
have the flexibility and performance of an SDR whether its manufactured by TT
or
anyone else. It just aint gonna happen. Duh!
Take advantage of TT's offer, order an Orion, try it for 30 days, A/B the
receiver with any rig you own (by the way, as a CW operator you will want the
(3)
optional filters offered with the Orion - total cost of investment about
$3500) if you dont like it, send it back.....no questions asked.
With the cost of today's top of the line "Apple" rigs selling for $14K, $10K
and the new Ic-756Prolll selling at $3.6K I would expect TT to raise the price
of the Orion soon, it only makes good business sense. I also believe that
TT's sales of the Orion will increase dramatically.
Oh yeah, heres a shocker, when I got my first SDR, the Jupiter, I took the
cases off and looked inside......the first thing I said was "where the hell is
all the parts". SDR's are very light rigs, the Jupiter weighs about 12 pounds
and the Orion weighs about 20 pounds.
I hope, in my long winded way, I've at least given you some kind of idea as
to what the latest and greatest is in ham radio transceivers.
WHEW!
73
John / N0KHQ / St. Louis
Always on 18.130
Antennas:
You can build 'em better than you can buy 'em
Please visit the sites below:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/antennas.html
http://www.cebik.com/n0khq.html
http://www.ssb-audio.com/forum/
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|