I just received an Omni VI+ Thursday afternoon. It came with full
complement of filters and the matching speaker power supply. It is very
clean, not quite factory new condition. This one even has the voice
synthesizer, as it was ownd by a blind ham.
It is sitting here side by side with my Omni VI Opt 3. I've been putting
them through their paces side by side.
I really like these radios. They look like serous radios, they perform
like serious radios, they are straightforward in operation. I can see that
once I get proficient at using the filters in this radio along with the
remarkable passband tuning and notch system, it will be pretty easy to deal
with QRM.
One thing that is tightening my jaw, though, is the plugs needed for for
keyer, key, speaker etc.
I have to have adapters for every combination of set ups. I have a 1/4"
phone plug on my Bencher, from using it with the Icom 706 and other rigs.
The Omni's take a 1/8" plug, stereo, of course. The speaker is the
reverse, but mono. I have 1/8" from the other rigs. The Omni's require a
1/4' plug.
For some reason I cannot begin to fathom, the speaker in the power supply
came with what appears to be a factory cable ending in an RCA plug for the
external speaker! Most of the other jacks on the back are RCA, but not one
for the speaker. The manual says it should have a 1/4" plug to use with
the radio, but this one does not. It appears to be the original
If you want to use a straight key, that takes the RCA plug. When is the
last time you had a straight key or a keyer with an RCA plug? I don't
think I have seen one in 55 years of hamming. In most radios, if you don't
want the built in keyer, just flip a switch and turn it off, plug in a
straight key or some other keyer you like better and off you go.
This set up is stupid, frankly. You have to obtain and keep a stock of all
these combinations of adapters, at some expense, and delay, Or you can put
new plugs on all your gear to match the Omni and buy adapters for your
other radios, you pick! Either way, God help you if one is misplaced while
moving from rig to rig.
There are a great many annoying problems in the world, and this is the one
bugging me today.
73 de W6OGC Jim Allen
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