I didn't mean any disrespect for the Eagle in my post of a few days ago. And I
appreciate Jack noticing my post and specifically replying to it.
I personally would buy an Eagle if I could afford it (and would have bought the
Argo V earlier if I could have afforded it then, as I am mainly a QRP
operator). I'm partial to the wider and not so tall format of the Scout, Argo
V, and Eagle. I much prefer their smaller size and proportions to the format
and size of the Jupiter, Orion, and Omni VI (and before that the Paragon II,
Omni V, and Omni VI), as I've long considered them too boxy and large for my
shack. Before I got my two Scouts, I used to own an Argosy II and Century 22,
which again share more similarities to my preferences. I parted with those two
older radios mainly because I grew tired of having to rebuild PTOs and wanted
someone else to enjoy those radios while they had the chance. And the PTO
limitations of the older Corsair, early Omnis and Tritons, is why I wouldn't
personally buy one for myself, regardless of how good they are. While the
Scout has a PTO (the last of the Ten-Tec
PTO radios), it is a much different PTO design and one not requiring
rebuilding. My only beef with the Scout, besides the module-based band
switching, is that I wish the RIT covered +/- 6 khz, instead of its very
limiting 1.4 or so, because then I might be able to work a bit more DX in
pileup situations; right now I'm basically out of luck for thinking about
working DXpeditions and sought-after DX. Otherwise, for its cost, the Scout
was/is a decent, solid, dependable, usable radio.
I don't doubt that a cheaper or more bare-bones radio is not good in serious
contesting situations. I wouldn't want that either. My limited experience
operating at club field days and some other multi-multi situations is that Ten
Tec and maybe Kenwood work well, with Icom generally being the worst and Yaesu
being somewhere in between, at tolerating station-to-station interference.
And I don't deny Jack's business assessment that even Ten-Tec couldn't produce
a Scout today, let alone a multi-band version of such a low-end radio, at an
affordable (to me) price. When I look at what an Elecraft K2 costs new, $699
for just the 10-watt CW-only version, which is for the kit, with assembly still
required, there is no way I can expect Ten-Tec to do that or less with an
assembled radio. Nor is it fair to ask them to. But I want them to stay in
business, so I have the option of buying a well-built radio made here in the
States, and more importantly still being able to get older radios repaired.
And so I will still watch the Eagle with interest, and hope that it does get
bought and become successful for Ten-Tec, as at least then I might be able to
buy a used one in six to ten years time (as I still hope someday I might
upgrade to an Argo V).
But in the meantime I still also sit back in amazement at how much radio buying
you guys do, and the prices you can afford to pay, as I know there is no way my
wife and I can ever justify it (and we are in our early 50s) -- to us, a
non-essential purchase such as a transceiver at even $1,000 (or even a K2 kit
for $699) is well beyond our scope of consideration. Obviously you guys earn a
lot more than I do, or have a way different set of priorities than my family.
I'm not disappointed -- just amazed.
And speaking of Tritons of old now costing thousands today if bought new -
there is now way I could have afforded to become a ham then (or now) if that is
what it cost to get into the hobby. The only way I figure people were able to
do it then is that we/they didn't have nearly the range of necessary expenses,
at least in proportion to income. Despite the advances in some areas
economically, it does cost a whole lot more today proportionally to live, and
with it our expectations on equipment performance, etc.
Cheers/73,
Kevin, K9IUA
--
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Kevin Anderson, Dubuque IA USA, K9IUA
k9iua (at) yahoo (dot) com
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