John Henry,
All the discussion on these great features and more this past week, resurected
one particular feature that I’ve lost touch with from Ten Tec - the external
high definition pan adapter video display that as I understood was being
developed and protos built at one time, not all that long ago. I realize the
same came be accomplished with several adjunct boxes today, but was wondering
if this piece of optional equipment is gone forever from Ten Tec?
Thanks,
Steve - W5JK
On Apr 8, 2014, at 9:08 AM, John Henry <jhenry@tentec.com> wrote:
> Very good discussion.
> In my opinion, eventually, SDR type transceivers will probably be the norm
> from all manufacturers. But I believe that there will still be a market in
> the amateur market and the commercial market for certain non-SDR type
> transceivers, traditional ones from today and also from yesteryear, this
> place will be there for these older/todays rigs for many years, eventually
> though, time will tell if they are there 40 years from now or not. Of
> course, I still think there is a market for rigs that are more hardware
> based that won't melt when the EMP hits. Just the amateur prepper in me.
> And I am not an extreme one.
>
> SDR's, now, to get the performance you need, the FPGAs are a thousand bucks
> or so apiece. Hence, high costs right now, and no, if you do it the way
> Flex did the 6500, you don't need a kick butt computer, just one that can
> do more than play solitaire, check email, and do on line recipes. Needs a
> very good sound card and graphics capability, so an entry level gaming
> computer does it very nicely.
>
> All rigs, JMHO, need to have an SDR output (9mhz IF or so) on them, even if
> they have a built in sweep, would be optimal to have I&Q then you can go
> straight into the PC with intermediate SDR adapters. A built in sweep is
> nice, but small if you limit it to the front panel of the rig. Need
> external sweeps like the P3 or bigger, or on a PC where you can run all of
> the great software of the CWSkimmers/DXLabs/N4PY/etc (don't anyone take
> omission from that list as a cut, I know there are hundreds others that do
> the job, and maybe better for certain people, geesh, caveat before I get
> slammed, hi hi)
>
> Future rigs:
> 506 - no, doesn't pay the bills, but it does pay forward to future paying
> of the bills... what the heck does that mean? well, already seeing examples
> of this occurring today. 506 customer from the maker faire community likes
> it, got his ticket, and then bought an Eagle. Loves it. Brings non-hams
> into the amateur market. So, we build on this, in product, and in future
> products.
> Orion - Yes, WAY ahead of it's time, but then so was the Jupiter, the
> Pegasus, etc. All of them have built upon each other as time went by, same
> overall DSP design methodology, similar code, always improving, and no, we
> haven't forgotten existing Orion/OrionII users, working on some stuff for
> them now as we speak, lower priority have to admit, but still in process.
> What, when? I won't say, because if something comes in the way and pushes
> it out, I'm da bad guy.
> Eagle - great selling rig, in fact, we continue to sell out of production
> quickly, so, when runs finish, then is the time to buy, snooze ya loose. We
> are working on improving the production process, so, eventually we will get
> to a point where demand is met when it is there. Also, this is a great
> little rig to base future designs upon, just wait and see. In some
> instances the receiver of the Eagle is superior to the Orion(s), is built
> on newer technology, etc., so why not build future bigger rigs and maybe
> even flagship rigs from it... time will tell.
> I'm a VERY big proponent of using what brung ya, meaning, if it works, and
> can be reused in a new product, then do so, improve it where you can each
> time, but don't redesign unless you are starting a whole new range of
> products that warrant the new design. Yes, if we were to offer an Eagle II,
> it would be better than the Eagle, but, it would be based on the concepts,
> boards, software, etc of the Eagle, but with enough value added stuff and
> improvements to make it better performer in all ways, rx, tx, user
> interfacing, etc.
> OMNI-VII, ah, lots ongoing there, stay tuned.
>
> I appreciate the wishlists for the Orion III, they help, in many ways, for
> many reasons.
>
> ok, back to work, lots of software to write, fix, etc., lots of designs to
> start, some to finish, etc. As I say from time to time, TEN-TEC ain't
> sleeping.
>
> Thanks, and 73,
> John Henry, KI4JPL
> TEN-TEC Engineering
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