Bery interesting Rick. Nice going, 73
Ed K7UC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick - NJ0IP / DJ0IP" <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
To: "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Eagle
> For the very serious contest stations, you are absolutely correct.
> They want the very best and even they cannot agree on which rigs to use.
>
> In my contest club, the Bavarian Contest club, we have about 5 or 6 big
> contest stations.
> "Big" is relative of course; they're no match for K3LR, or KC1XX, etc.
> These have pretty much the same hardware all the time.
>
> Most of our 300+ club members do not work from these locations.
> Most work from home in any given year, but each big contest, probably
> about
> 10 little groups go off on mini expeditions.
> A couple might work multi-multi, but most work multi-single or multi-2.
> The transportation is often by airplane.
> The amps are often just a kilowatt.
> The antennas are mostly Spiderbeam (now W4PA in USA).
> Here, the guys take what they can get. And most take their own rigs; they
> don't have a club station waiting for them where they're going.
>
> Many are still students or young kids and they can't afford a $4K radio.
> They'll scrape to afford something, and just like I somehow managed to
> afford a Drake Line while in College (early 70's), they can manage $2K.
> Many just lug a lot of old heavy stuff along, like TS-850 or FT-1000,
> because these are relatively cheap on the used market and get the job
> done.
>
> Only people going for the first time would think about taking something
> like
> a TS-450 or FT-747, or even an Icom IC-735, which is actually a good rig
> on
> its own. All of the lower priced Japanese rigs cause problems. These are
> one time and never again radios for such purposes. Not only do they get
> interfered with by the others, they cause a wideband noise to the other
> local rigs when transmitting, especially when using a linear.
>
> If you are the only one going on the trip, then you can drop down a class
> and use an Icom-735, an FT-900, and even a TS-480, as long as you know
> you'll need a lot of attenuation on the low bands. And if you go really
> far
> away and have marginal antennas, any radio at all will do!
>
> I still get invited regularly on expeditions, but rarely go along, mostly
> due to age and not wanting to spend so much money on the hobby.
> Occasionally I do go and take my own rig. My Omni VI was always
> acceptable.
> Only us guys here on this reflector would want to use an analog rig (like
> a
> Corsair).
>
> For CW only, many use the K2. I did too for several years. But very few
> people find it adequate for SSB.
> This would make the Eagle the cheapest acceptable rig currently on the
> market if you want SSB and CW.
> And look at its size and weight; PERFECT!
>
> MY PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS AS A CONTESTER:
>
> Over the years, for me, the quality of the receiver in a multi-rig
> environment has been at the top of my personal list of "must have".
> I have activated 4U1VIC several times in CQWW, with two transceivers
> (usually 2x Omni VI) and two amps and we did not even use external
> bandpass
> filters. There, all of the antennas are located on the same rooftop. When
> some of the kids would bring their cheap Yaewoodcom transceivers along,
> I'd
> let them try and use it. You can't tell them their rig is no good; they
> don't believe you!
> After twenty minutes or so, they would push it aside and use the other
> Omni.
>
> Not long after that they would buy anther rig.
>
> If you have never tried this, then I understand how you might have a hard
> time believing it.
> Try it.
> It's easy to get a second ham with a radio, and put up a second antenna at
> your shack.
>
> If that's not how you work, and not how you want to work in the future,
> then
> you can ignore all of the above and buy anything.
>
> BUT are you sure?
> I once went to Liechtenstein (HB0) for Field Day, camping.
> To my dismay, two other hams from Germany had done the same thing.
> We were 3 stations with less than 100 ft. separation between our antennas.
>
> The other two had JA radios with 100w; I had a Ten-Tec (QRP).
> They could not operate at the same time, so after about an hour into the
> contest, they decided to do multi-single.
> I operated with my 5 watts, did not disturb them, and they didn't disturb
> me
> much (they had no amp; otherwise the wide-band noise would have wiped me
> out).
> Despite their presence, I managed to take first place in Europe in the QRP
> class. Of course the rare HB0 callsign is always good for 10 dB.
>
> You never know when you will encounter local QRM.
>
> Sorry guys, this was another longwire transmission.
>
> 73
> Rick
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Rsoifer@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 11:22 AM
> To: tentec@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Eagle
>
> Rick,
>
> It's been many years since I was a serious contester (I dabble a bit
> nowadays but I'm really a DXer), so this is really more of a question than
> a
>
> comment. I would have thought (perhaps incorrectly) that a serious
> multi-multi would be using radios in a higher price/performance bracket
> than
> the
> Eagle, such as the K3 or the Orion/Orion II. Am I wrong?
>
> 73 Ray W2RS
>
>
> In a message dated 9/28/2010 3:27:07 P.M. GMT Standard Time, Rick@DJ0IP.de
> writes:
>
> What's wrong with the market position of being the lowest cost HF
> transceiver on the market that has a decent receiver?
>
> It seems some folks just don't appreciate good performance. Perhaps they
> don't understand what it is.
>
> If you think some cheaper radio is good, try taking 12 of them and
> putting
> 1.5 KW amps behind them and then run them all at the same time from the
> same
> site (run station and multi station for each band).
> That's what we do in contests.
>
> We are talking about radios that can do that, not toys.
> If you don't need it, you don't need it. Period.
>
> The EAGLE is the cheapest radio you can use in this environment unless
> you
> count the K2, which is a kit.
>
> If you don't do that and don't want a radio of that caliber, well, don't
> buy
> it.
> Buy a toy and play with all its gadgets.
>
> Different strokes for different folks.
>
> ;-)
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Jim M.
> Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 6:25 PM
> To: tentec@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Eagle
>
> I don't understand the business model for this Eagle. Seems pricey and
> doesn't seem to have much unique. Looking back at TT history it seems
> they
> like to continually introduce a plethora of radio models with names like
> Eagle, Argo, Jupiter, etc. Why not just concentrate on a few well
> positioned tcvr models? Why not spend the man hours to finish up the
> Orion
> II work?
>
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