W2KJ wrote:
>...Now if Ten Tec could build a transceiver with a single Orion
receiver and
dual VFO's for $2500 I bet it would be a great seller.
I completely agree. It should be very popular
with serious contesters who do SO2R. I am told by
someone at Ten-Tec that the reason Omni VI did not
do better was the lack of Dual Receive, but a well
implemented rig with a single receiver should do
well IMHO. As an example of the latter, I would
cite the Kenwood TS-930S which had a very convenient
T-F button for switching the RX to your Transmit
frequency when trying to zero-beat stations working
DX in Split pileups.
Which of the following would you rather have:
1. A dual RX rig with one good receiver for $4000.
2. A single RX rig with one good RX for $2500.
3. Two single RX rigs, both with good RX's for $5000
(i.e. two each #1 above).
The answer probably depends on how you operate, but
I agree that there is a huge hole in the market for
a good single RX rig in the $2500 area. Elecraft
has the closest current offering which costs about
$1500 for the kit components plus >40 hours of your
time to build. Based on Elecraft's sales over the
past year or so, they are selling ~60 units per month
of the K2 (of course not all are fully loaded with
options).
I also wonder if it might not be possible to
add a Dual RX option, using the display and control
in the Main rig, but using an external "RF front-end"
receiver for less than an incremental $2500. It
might also be that this external box could be used
as a front-end for a computer, since the control
functions might all be via a standard interface
anyway.
Something for our friends at TT to consider!
73, Bill W4ZV
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