Peter,
I got one to build as a warm up to the K2 Elecraft transceiver Field Test
kit.
It is a great project, Ten Tec is better than Heathkit with manuals. They
are easy to follow and have good extra info on parts. The kit was complete,
everything fit, and it worked right off. It is very accurate in frequency
once you calibrate the master oscillator, and I did that by zero beating CHU
Canada above 40m. You can also do it on 10 MHz WWV. What was nice was that
every Frequency standard station comes in right on the money. The tuning
rates are fast 100 kHz for getting from band to band, all in a continuous
range of the opto encoder, and a slower rate adequate for SSB, but perhaps a
tad fast for CW. I got the receiver as a compact SWL receiver to put on the
couch side table and be able to check band conditions without going to the
shack. It is great for that, and perfectly fine for most amateur SSB uses
with a separate transmitter, but you would have to work out TR as it is not
made to be a communications receiver. It has an RCA jack for antenna but
you change that to BNC, and has provisions thru it for powering a remote
preamp. Normally, none is needed on any of the ranges with dipole or
commercial verticals.
The radio has a BIG sound for its built in speaker. It is rock solid, and
heavy. It has an internal back up 9 volt battery for the 15 memory
positions. You can program each of the WWV frequencies in those, and they
will be there right on anytime the propagation is working for the
frequency. Short wave broadcast stations sound great on it.
There are some downsides, it is designed as a coax fed radio. A random wire
in the antenna jack will pick up too much of the display microprocessor
hash. However, I am working on some added shielding and decoupling for
that. Back burner project, but some report adding shields helps. The case
is heavy steel, which is good, nothing flimsy about the radio, but it is not
a backpacking weight. It has a large wall wart transformer power supply
with the coaxial power DC connector. With a micro inside, I doubt you could
use it with small internal batteries, although there is some room inside if
you did something clever with AA cells.
It think it uses about 15 volts DC internally, thus that means it is not
cigar lighter mobile capable as it stands.
For its advertised wide band 100 kHz to 30 MHz coverage, it is a best buy,
and is about the size of other small desk foreign SWL receivers, and smaller
than the yaecomwood receivers. The case is the size of a 2m mobile rig, and
is the same case and board /display arrangement and knob arrangement as the
Ten Tec FM 2m and other transceivers! Yes, I would buy it again and anyone
who needs a good project, this is it. It might be a step above entry level,
but if you have an elmer, that would not be a detriment. The manual is that
good!
73,
Stuart K5KVH
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