Very good discussion.
In my opinion, eventually, SDR type transceivers will probably be the norm
from all manufacturers. But I believe that there will still be a market in
the amateur market and the commercial market for certain non-SDR type
transceivers, traditional ones from today and also from yesteryear, this
place will be there for these older/todays rigs for many years, eventually
though, time will tell if they are there 40 years from now or not. Of
course, I still think there is a market for rigs that are more hardware
based that won't melt when the EMP hits. Just the amateur prepper in me.
And I am not an extreme one.
SDR's, now, to get the performance you need, the FPGAs are a thousand bucks
or so apiece. Hence, high costs right now, and no, if you do it the way
Flex did the 6500, you don't need a kick butt computer, just one that can
do more than play solitaire, check email, and do on line recipes. Needs a
very good sound card and graphics capability, so an entry level gaming
computer does it very nicely.
All rigs, JMHO, need to have an SDR output (9mhz IF or so) on them, even if
they have a built in sweep, would be optimal to have I&Q then you can go
straight into the PC with intermediate SDR adapters. A built in sweep is
nice, but small if you limit it to the front panel of the rig. Need
external sweeps like the P3 or bigger, or on a PC where you can run all of
the great software of the CWSkimmers/DXLabs/N4PY/etc (don't anyone take
omission from that list as a cut, I know there are hundreds others that do
the job, and maybe better for certain people, geesh, caveat before I get
slammed, hi hi)
Future rigs:
506 - no, doesn't pay the bills, but it does pay forward to future paying
of the bills... what the heck does that mean? well, already seeing examples
of this occurring today. 506 customer from the maker faire community likes
it, got his ticket, and then bought an Eagle. Loves it. Brings non-hams
into the amateur market. So, we build on this, in product, and in future
products.
Orion - Yes, WAY ahead of it's time, but then so was the Jupiter, the
Pegasus, etc. All of them have built upon each other as time went by, same
overall DSP design methodology, similar code, always improving, and no, we
haven't forgotten existing Orion/OrionII users, working on some stuff for
them now as we speak, lower priority have to admit, but still in process.
What, when? I won't say, because if something comes in the way and pushes
it out, I'm da bad guy.
Eagle - great selling rig, in fact, we continue to sell out of production
quickly, so, when runs finish, then is the time to buy, snooze ya loose. We
are working on improving the production process, so, eventually we will get
to a point where demand is met when it is there. Also, this is a great
little rig to base future designs upon, just wait and see. In some
instances the receiver of the Eagle is superior to the Orion(s), is built
on newer technology, etc., so why not build future bigger rigs and maybe
even flagship rigs from it... time will tell.
I'm a VERY big proponent of using what brung ya, meaning, if it works, and
can be reused in a new product, then do so, improve it where you can each
time, but don't redesign unless you are starting a whole new range of
products that warrant the new design. Yes, if we were to offer an Eagle II,
it would be better than the Eagle, but, it would be based on the concepts,
boards, software, etc of the Eagle, but with enough value added stuff and
improvements to make it better performer in all ways, rx, tx, user
interfacing, etc.
OMNI-VII, ah, lots ongoing there, stay tuned.
I appreciate the wishlists for the Orion III, they help, in many ways, for
many reasons.
ok, back to work, lots of software to write, fix, etc., lots of designs to
start, some to finish, etc. As I say from time to time, TEN-TEC ain't
sleeping.
Thanks, and 73,
John Henry, KI4JPL
TEN-TEC Engineering
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