With the decline of CW on the ham bands, and more in sight, would it
really pay Ten Tec to build a modern CW only transceiver these days?
Yes, there is a decline. I have been on CW since 1939. I can remember
when 40 meters was ALL CW and it was crowded day and night. Even 80
meters would yield a local QSO during a week day. A.M. Modulation was
expensive with the large and expensive modulation transformers, and
schemes such as heising and loop modulation worked, but had inherent
troubles (no SSB then). Today, during a weekday, 40 and 80 meters CW is
almost dead. During the week, even the higher frequencies don't have all
that many CW signals on them; you have to wait until the weekend or a
contest. But listen up on the phone bands. They are crowded. There is no
doubt that it is just a matter of time until the Washington Powers
extend the phone bands. No, I am not in favor of these changes. I will
be a CW man until I die (not far off). But we cannot escape what appears
to be reality to me.
Looking at it from TT's point of view, it cost money to design and
manufacture a new rig. Ten-Tec is not known for doing that every two
years or so. The new rig must be a major seller for quite a few years to
come. If they expect it to be more than the current crop of cheap QRP
rigs, they better include phone. Like it or not, it's the future of ham
radio, and it is unlikely that a moderately expensive CW only rig would
be cost effective. Note that even Wayne Burdick's new QRP rig has SSB
capability, and he is a CW man. Progressive looking people stay in
business.
I may sound like I am pushing SSB, and I AM NOT. I am just an O.F.. who
gets very lonely during the week when looking for more than a quick DX
contact on a weekday. I often can't sleep and find that when the higher
bands are dead, in the middle of the night, there is very little on CW
on the lower bands. Doubt it? Listen on 40 or 80 between two and three
in the morning. Maybe DX, but ragchewers are had to find. You think you
have to wait until the middle of the night to find it lonely. Try having
a true rag chew on a weekday, during the day. Oh, you can do it. But not
like you used to. And it is getting harder. Most of my old friends now
set up schedules just so that we can be sure of rag-chew at those
difficult hours. None of this appears to be happening on the phone
bands. As a businessman I sure would not design and build a rig for
profit with the restrictions you are asking for, although I do admit I
like your ideas from a personal point of view.
Just this old man's opinion, and it is worth just what you paid for it.
Best 73, and God bless....
Jim, K5ROV
--
James (Jim) Parsons, K5ROV USAF, Ret. Ham for 58 yrs.
k5rov@wcc.net ICQ-17012707 QCWA, NWQRP, Fists, ARRL
EX: W1RLA, K5FBB, K4FEO, SV0WN (CRETE), SV0WN (RHODES),
DL4NC, DL4JP, KA2FC (JAPAN), KA2JP (JAPAN)...and more.
JOHN 3:16
Steve Ellington wrote:
>
> The trouble with IC-706's, TS-50's et-al is THEY AREN'T SIMPLE. For that
> matter, the Scout isn't very simple either. Microprocessors and SMT
> components have made it almost impossible for the average ham to service
> his own equipment. What I would like to see is something on the order of a
> scaled down version of a Triton VI. Here's what I want.
>
> 1. 9 CW bands
> 2. Tuneable front end (preselector)
> 3. PTO (no pll's)
> 4. 500hz cw filter (xtal ladder)
> 5. CW only (no ssb)
> 6. Band switch
> 7. 50 to 100 watts
> 8. QSK (click free and fast)
> 9. Sidetone with a real sine wave tone
> 10.Rugged case
> 11.Size of a Scout
>
> Steve Ellington N4LQ
> N4LQ@IGLOU.COM
>
> --
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> Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
--
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