My first encounter with Ten-Tec was in 1975 when an OT brought his 505
up to our club station, W2OW. I was very impressed by this QRP rig and
I wanted one badly. I had to settle for an HW-8, but that's another
story. My real introduction came in 1978, when I moved to
Charlottesville VA to continue my education. That's the University of
Virginia and they had, indeed, a pretty good station back then in an
old farm house on grounds (UVA grounds = university campus, pace TJ!).
That station consisted of a rather newish Triton IV (analog) and I
simply could believe how quiet the receiver was, never mind the
smooth-as-silk QSK! It was like a dream! Fortunately for me, I was
the only guy around who used the rig, so I had pretty free access to
that Triton and some decent antennas. For my first year at UVA (I was
28 at the time), I was without the XYL for most of the time, so many
an hour was spent with that setup.
The next year, Laura (the aforementioned XYL) came down to C'ville to
further her education too and we moved into married student housing;
it was nice, on grounds (i.e., on campus) but it was somewhat cramped.
In 1980, when the rig I had gave up the ghost (a Galaxy V Mk II, much
to my chagrin; not a cw machine at all!), I decided to buy myself my
first new rig (I had been licensed since 1964) -- An Argosy, a little
radio that I simply loved. In 1982, with rising fortunes, I traded it
in for a real radio, the Corsair, which I used daily for 20 years or
so, but I had to get my or someone else's Argosy back (which I did).
Finally, in 2005 I got any Orion and was impressed -- as I was with
every Ten-Tec I've owned -- again. Since that time, I have become
largely an Elecraft fan (built the K2 and "assembled" the K3, along
with a K1 and KX1), but still use the Orion at times and with
appreciation for the Ten-Tec engineers.
That's my TT story and it's been a great one for me.
73,
Joe, W2RBA
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