Terry,
I would respectfully disagree with you in part.
Considering that the Omni VII is the older of the two designs, it makes
sense to bring back the Eagle first. Less chance of parts suddenly becoming
unobtanium, one of the hottest receivers on the market at the time (remember
the upgrade to the Orion/Orion II second receiver was the Eagle receiver
design, as I recall), and a relatively compact design.
If were Mike to ask for my input, which he has not, my only quibble would be
to make the "bare bones" Eagles all with the antenna tuner. You can achieve
a bit of an economy of scale that way, and it would be a good selling point
when compared to the imported rigs for less money that come an AT installed.
Now, with that said...
I would agree that, if I were asked, which I have not, that the first "new"
rig would logically be an updated Omni VII. Take the Eagle design, bring it
up to date with technology from the last few years, possibly add either a
second receiver or the capability to add one later (a simple add-in board,
perhaps). Use the larger rig form factor of an Omni VII or an Orion for the
purpose of ergonomics (I've used a K3, and I really dislike the small knobs
and the relatively crowded front panel... But I don't wan an all menu driven
rig, either).
Once that's done, if I were asked, which I have not, I'd then suggest
updating the Eagle. So the two primary HF rigs would be the 'updated' Eagle
and the 'updated' Omni VII, whatever names/numbers end up being hung on
them.
Oh, and I would also (if asked) suggest bringing the Rebel & Patriot back
sooner than later, and yes, I know that the old CPU is out of production and
this would require a small redesign. They were selling quite well for a
while, and it looked as though they were a big hit with those interested in
Open Source and similar 'mod' projects. Both were essentially single board
rigs, as I recall, with a simple case. Should be easy to put back in
production (oh, sure) compared to the other rigs.
...and if at all possible, I'd hope Mike can have rigs with him at
Hamvention (I guess we can't call it Dayton anymore, can we? Xenia
Hamvention just doesn't have the ring to it though). I think it would be a
huge postitive PR step to not just SAY that the gear is back in production,
but to SHOW them, and display them ready for sale NOW. If Mike were to ask
my opinion, that is, which he has not.
Back to the contest!
73. ron w3wn
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of terry
foskey via TenTec
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2017 11:58 AM
To: TenTec@contesting.com
Cc: terry foskey
Subject: [TenTec] Wrong Product - Eagle
I personally believe the Eagle is the wrong product to hang a radio restart
on. Piggy back on the OMNI VII and Orion 2. Take a form factor somewhere
near the Omni VII box, slap two eagle receivers in it, nice pad adapter
screen with an output for a larger screen, IF Out and you could compete
with elecraft and others. The user interface alone on the Tentec will run
circles around the Elecraft. Perhaps Im wrong but I don't believe the Eagle
has the demand.
N5TFTerry
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