Well....I have finally had a *little* time to spend with the Argonaut V.
Not enough to give a detailed accounting of the rig and its features, but
enough to know that I like what I have! I am well pleased with its
operation and looks. As with the Jupiter, I love the simplicity of
operation. I previously owned a Yaesu 1000D and an ICOM 746. Both were
great rigs, but were more complicated to operate. I especially like the
ability to use one knob to change the bandwidth to what is needed at the
moment. Also, no ringing when down in the 200 to 400 hz range. Had a chance
last evening while tuning around to use the passband tuning. It worked
great! Had no trouble separating adjacent sigs and noise from the sig that
I wanted. Did some A/B comparison with my Jupiter and found that on some
sigs the Argonaut V was the better sounding of the two. Did not seem to
have as much background noise. Also, as has already been noted, the QSK is
great. Just remember that the hang time setting for the VOX is what adjusts
the QSK. With the hang time set to 0 it is true QSK with no clicks or other
strange sounds. Still have not done any PSK31. Had failed to order the
cable when ordering the rig. Called Scott on Monday and ordered it. Hope to
get it today or tomorrow.
I am definitely looking forward to using this rig next year while camping.
With the LDG QRP tuner and a wire along with my laptop I will be able
operate on all bands/modes. All (not including the laptop) should fit
comfortably in one of the larger laptop cases. I carried the rig by itself
to our club meeting this week in my regular laptop case. Would have been
tough getting the tuner in there also, but with one of the larger cases it
should be no problem.
As I hope you all understand, these are my opinions and as such are not the
gospel. But, for those of you wavering and waiting about whether to order
the Argonaut V....pick up the phone and place that order. Personally, I
think you will love the rig.
Ken/NO4D
ps...as I said, I took the rig to our local meeting this week. Had several
lookers and touchers and a couple of operators and all were impressed with
the Argonaut V.
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