With great pleasure I have added a pair of Argosy 525s to my Ten-Tec
station (yes, I'm the one looking for replacement front panels, etc.)
These are non-digital, fairly early serial numbers so I am awaiting a
Tech Note from Ten-Tec on suggested updates... and I'm reviewing some
suggested mods I found on the Internet..., but those are subjects for
other discussions.
What I didn't realize before I began my search for the Argosy's (small
matter though) is that the 525 deviated from the Triton and Omni designs
(which I used from 1977 till the present) by not having a 'Spot'
function (yes, I know there is no RF gain control either but I know how
to remedy that one should it become needed).
Now I try to be a well mannered CW op... and of course it is good
practice to be able to reasonably zero-beat the other station. It
appears that the Argosy philosophy on zero-beating is to 'WAG' it by
tuning the station for a peak in the CW audio filter. Personally I
prefer temporarily negating the PTO receive offset and tuning for the
actual 'zero beat'. Yes, I know the filter isn't suppose to respond
below say 200 Hz so I guess even that approach is a 'WAG' too. But it is
a Wag I am comfortable with. Hmmmmmmmm
Anyway, before I go digging into the schematic and compare to a Ten-Tec
with a built in Spot function I wanted to just see if anyone has taken
this one before and what the outcome was satisfaction wise. There are
several un-used RCA connectors on the back panel so I thought I could
attach an external SPOT push button via one of those and avoid drilling
holes.
[Regarding other Zero-Beat options, my station does have a
'Son-of-Zero-Beat' (nifty toy) which I use with great delight along with
the Ten-Tec rig's that I am fairly confident of the actual offset
amount.... this doesn't include the Argosy's.... at least not until I do
a proper alignment.]
73,
Jerry, KG6TT
Fairfield, CA
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