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Re: [TenTec] New Radios in the Future

To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] New Radios in the Future
From: Carl Moreschi <n4py3@earthlink.net>
Reply-to: n4py3@earthlink.net, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:29:29 -0400
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
I now use a Flex 6500 almost exclusively. I use a Tmate2 device which gives me 3 knobs and 9 buttons. I find this setup works extremely well for all my needs.
Carl Moreschi N4PY
58 Hogwood Rd
Louisburg, NC 27549
www.n4py.com

On 10/31/2014 7:26 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
IMO, the time has come to stop worrying about which "radio".
It's time to abandon the concept of a radio as being the single stand alone
device that gets us on the air.

SDR radios such as FLEX and ANAN  ARE THE FUTURE.
BUT NOT as stand-alone devices.
Most of us will have and use an additional "Human Interface Box".

What most of us don't like about the current SDR radios is their human
interface.
..We want knobs.
..Some of us want big knobs.
..Some of us want more knobs
..Some of us want fewer knobs

The Eagle is a fantastic radio but we can't seem to agree on the knob
arrangement for the perfect Eagle.
WHY MUST WE AGREE ON JUST ONE SOLUTION?
What if we could have a dozen different solutions to the knob arrangement,
but they all control a black box called "Son of Eagle"?

CONSIDER THIS:

In the future there will be multiple companies offering various Human
Interfaces.
Our choice of human interface will be just as important as our choice of SDR
radio that goes behind it.

Before I continue, let me explain what I have in mind.
I'm thinking of things like the Wood Box interface such as their TMate2.
See:  http://www.woodboxradio.com/tmate2.html

My first impression of the TMate2:  "Nice but too expensive."
But is it really too expensive?
It is exactly the knobs that this device has which I like so much in my
radios.

Considering its price, the performance of the FLEX 6300 is phenomenal.
But who wants a radio with no knobs?  I certainly don't.

In the future, that performance level will be available for $1K or even
less.
Couple that with a $300 human interface and we'll have a lovely radio at a
reasonable price.

Each of us can choose which human interface we want, with as many knobs as
we want, and the radio behind it is a black box engine.  We can swap the SDR
black box engine as often as we want, but keeping our own favorite human
interface.  Each new radio will have the same look and feel as the old one.
No new steep learning curve.

Upgrading to newer technology will be cheaper because we don't replace
everything.
We just purchase a new engine.

I believe this will be the ham radio of the future.

This approach will enable each of us to create a radio environment that
suits our own personal tastes.

Even though I was one of the ones yelling loudest that real radios have
knobs, I'm ready to jump ship as soon as they build solutions like this.

73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)



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