Frank,
Thanks for sharing that with us.
Obviously you meant the TS-480 (hi).
I too have owned one of these for several years, primarily as
portable/mobile rig.
I got a chance to compare the 480 to a K2, an Omni VII, and an Orion.
I didn't have an Omni VI at the time.
The TS-480 is one outstanding radio, but..
You don't see the difference on any given day.
I was living in Germany and testing on 40m with a dipole about 40 ft. up.
Durring contests like CQWW, the front end of the TS-480 works to a point,
way above where the el-cheapos like IC-706 or anything else in that class,
but then it hits its own limits and just overloads pathetically.
I specifically remember the first time I tried it in CQWW. I had owned it
for a couple of months and loved it.
In Europe the contests begin at 1am so 40m is wide open.
I got very frustrated within 30 minutes and turned the 480 off and used the
K2 sitting next to it.
There was a world of difference. You have to see it to believe it.
Until that day, I thought that the 480 was as good as the K2.
Though I never compared it directly to the Omni VI+, I had compared the VI+
to the K2 earlier and they were close, but I favored the Omni because it had
better filter combinations and I could clearly pull weak ones out of the QRM
better with it.
In a contest situation, as well as the measured specs of the radio, the 480
is not in the class of the other radios mentioned above.
But that was contesting.
Frank, your test was a different test and also a very valid test.
Yours was a typical evening on the air, trying to work a weak DX station.
I never tried that and I'm sure your results were realistic.
As I said, the 480 is a lovely radio and my favorite portable/mobile radio;
as long as it doesn't overload.
At one of our BCC contesting stations in Munich, I had an opportunity to
test another TS-480 against the Omni VII and Orion.
We had a 3 ele. Beam on 40m, about 100 ft. in the air.
The TS-480 again folded long before the other two.
The Orion also beat the Omni VII clearly.
Just for fun, I connected a very good preselector to the Omni VII and it
basically was as good as the Orion, though the preselector has about 3 or 4
dB loss, so ultimately there might be a weak one that the Orion can hear and
the O7 cannot.
When we talk about good and bad receivers, we NEVER mean that the bad ones
are bad all of the time.
In fact when used for their intended purpose, like mobile or portable, they
are outstanding.
They just crumble in a contest when used with good antennas.
73
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Frank Kirschner
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 2:55 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] The Eagle and the legacy TTs
Re: General coverage vs. ham bands-only receivers.
I recently did some extensive A/B testing with a Ten Tec Omni V and a
Kenwood FT-480HX. On every signal - strong, weak, or in between - the
Kenwood did a better job. The S/N was better at the speaker on all ham
bands. I admit that the Ten Tec is an older rig, but the technology hasn't
changed that much, except perhaps in terms of fabrication (e.g., more
surface mount components). Where there was strong-signal interference, the
Kenwood did just as well as the Ten Tec. The Kenwood has a general coverage
receiver - 30 KHz to 60 MHz.
Frank
KK4PR
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