Bob,
Everyone has their favorites. Some people, sadly, feel it is necessary to
bash, smear, impugn, or otherwise libel rigs that are not their favorites.
And even the best of rigs have their lemons. Things happen. There are some
who have had a bad experience with a particular radio, and blame the entire
line of that radio -- or even the entire set of equipment for all time from
that manufacturer -- for the failings of one lemon.
Let's not even go into the other options... hams who work for ham radio
retailers, who promote things they sell over things they don't... people who
blindly follow other people's opinions without forming their own... and so
on, and you get an idea of why some of the hard core contesters favor
certain pieces of equipment over others.
And remember that the preferred rigs of the "hard-core" change over time.
Not everyone agrees with the changes... you'll still find some hard-core
contesters running a Drake C-Line with the Sherwood filters and other
upgrades, or a TS-950S, and so on. Yes, some of the very best contesters
and DX'ers have the shekels to buy the very best. They very often buy the
most expensive... but the very best? That is a matter of opinion... and
frankly, with what they have (or should have) invested in an antenna system,
they don't always NEED the "best" rigs out there, just something in the top
of the heap, so to speak.
Having said all that... although I am not as active a contester as I was in
the past (a couple of QTH moves, some equipment sell-offs due to job loss,
family, and so forth), I have had the opportunity over the last few years to
use two Ten-Tec rigs (Corsair II w/RVFO and Orion) and the aforementioned
Yaesu FT-1000D in contest situations from several QTH's.
In my personal opinion, based on this usage, I'd take either Ten-Tec rig
over the FT-1000D for casual contesting. For a hard-core, full blown, 48
hour effort to win at all legitimate costs, I'd definitely take the Orion
over the 1000. For my style, I've found the Orion and the Corsair II to
both receive better and transmit cleaner, and I've found the Orion much
easier to use intuitively than the 1000D.
For casual DX'ing, I still prefer the Corsair over the Orion. But if I'm
trying to squeeze every bit of performance out of my signal, I'd go to the
Orion to take advantage of filtering options and some other little extras.
Of course, this is all IMHO. YMMV. VWPBL(STn).
Best advice: Before spending the shekels, find people in your area who
actually own the rig(s) in question, and see if you can arrange a shack
visit to actually use them yourself. Then, you'll know what the best rig
FOR YOU is... for the moment, at least!
[...and anyone who wishes to play Santa and send me a Corsair or Corsair II
anonymously, I won't complain! <g>]
73, ron w3wn
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of AD5VJ Bob
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2006 11:25 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: [TenTec] Radio Control/Contesting??
Which model is considered the best for computer control? I am considering a
Ten Tec for my next contest station set up.
Don't flame me I am simply relaying an experience:
I have heard on contest lists that Ten Tec has too soft a front end for
contesting, and that it should only be considered for casual
Dxing or for an "everyday" rig.
That for true Dxing and hard core contesting, the Yaesu FT-1000D is the only
way to go.
What are your thoughts and experiences on this? The reason I am asking is
that after having my "new to me" OMNI D series B, I am not
sure anymore that the above statement is true.
This is a pretty tight rig.
73 fer nw es gud DX,
QSL VIA: BUR, LotW, e-QSL
Bob AD5VJ(AAR6VM)
Old calls: WY5L/KH3-KE5CTY-N5IET
http://www.ad5vj.com/
Member: CTDXCC, NTCC, STXDXCC
FISTS: # 12637, SKCC# 2369
10X# 37210, FP#-1141
SMIRK#-5177, RARS #-149
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