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I am surprised that so little has been posted to the ref regarding this =
new radio. Because of that I will give my 2 cents worth...
When the radio arrived nearly 2 weeks ago I was NOT going to even look =
at the manual but TenTec had a one sheet tucked inside the cover of the =
manual warning you to NOT do ANYTHING before you read pages vii through =
page 4 first. So I read those pages which were to familiarize yourself =
with the hookup and loading of the software. I DID NOT read any further =
... I wanted to see how good this radio & software were for intuitive =
use. I found it not necessary to refer to the manual any further.
The receiver in this radio is GREAT !!! One of the best sounding radios =
I have had in my shack. I really like and use a lot the passband tuning =
control for a tone control of the received audio. Selectivity looks =
good. The AM broadcast stations I like sound very HIFI also.=20
Wanting a strictly "computer" controlled radio I did not opt for the =
tuning control. I find it very natural to use the mouse to tune the =
radio ... until I tried to work split. When split and wanting to check =
the XMIT frequency and holding down the REV button to hear the XMIT =
frequency I found myself not being able to adjust the XMIT freq. A phone =
call to Scott at TenTec and I found out that the up/down keyboard =
buttons will adjust the tuning. SLICK ! I then tried the left/right =
arrows and found that those adjust the tuning step size.
After some QSO's on 75 and 40 in which I got great reports I went to 20 =
meters and got a distorted audio report from a friend who has a good =
ear. To make a short story shorter, my radio was overnighted to TenTec =
last week for a regulator repair and they OVERNIGHTED it back to me ! =
What nice treatment. The radio is working fine now on all bands. I have =
not used it on CW as yet.
Now for a couple negatives ... NO external speaker connection AND you =
cannot use the spare jack on the back of the radio. For whatever reason =
(schematics not available yet) both speaker leads have to be floating =
above chassis ground ! I ran a pigtail through a slot in the bottom of =
the radio for my RCA 12 inch monitor speaker ... what great sound.
I have a small gripe that I am sure will be taken care of in software =
revisions .... when switching back to a vfo from a memory the filter =
selection stays on the filter selected by the memory and does not go =
back to the previously used filter by the VFO. When changing bands the =
mode is not remembered ... from 75 meters LSB I select 20 meters and the =
radio stays in LSB. For now I use VFO A for 75 & 40 and VFO B on 20 =
cause it does remember mode from one VFO to the other.
I think TenTec has come up with a very progressive product that has been =
released with fewer bugs than I expected.=20
=20
Terry W6RU
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<BODY bgColor=3D#d8e0f0>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I am surprised that so little has been posted to the =
ref=20
regarding this new radio. Because of that I will give my 2 cents=20
worth...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>When the radio arrived nearly 2 weeks ago I was NOT =
going to=20
even look at the manual but TenTec had a one sheet tucked inside the =
cover of=20
the manual warning you to NOT do ANYTHING before you read pages vii =
through page=20
4 first. So I read those pages which were to familiarize yourself with =
the=20
hookup and loading of the software. I DID NOT read any further ... I =
wanted to=20
see how good this radio & software were for intuitive use. I found =
it not=20
necessary to refer to the manual any further.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>The receiver in this radio is GREAT !!! One of the =
best=20
sounding radios I have had in my shack. I really like and use a lot the =
passband=20
tuning control for a tone control of the received audio. Selectivity =
looks good.=20
The AM broadcast stations I like sound very HIFI also. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Wanting a strictly "computer" controlled radio I did =
not opt=20
for the tuning control. I find it very natural to use the mouse to tune =
the=20
radio ... until I tried to work split. When split and wanting to check =
the XMIT=20
frequency and holding down the REV button to hear the XMIT frequency I =
found=20
myself not being able to adjust the XMIT freq. A phone call to Scott at =
TenTec=20
and I found out that the up/down keyboard buttons will adjust the =
tuning. SLICK=20
! I then tried the left/right arrows and found that those adjust the =
tuning step=20
size.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>After some QSO's on 75 and 40 in which I got great =
reports I=20
went to 20 meters and got a distorted audio report from a friend who has =
a good=20
ear. To make a short story shorter, my radio was overnighted to TenTec =
last week=20
for a regulator repair and they OVERNIGHTED it back to me ! What nice =
treatment.=20
The radio is working fine now on all bands. I have not used it on CW as=20
yet.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Now for a couple negatives ... NO external speaker =
connection=20
AND you cannot use the spare jack on the back of the radio. For whatever =
reason=20
(schematics not available yet) both speaker leads have to be floating =
above=20
chassis ground ! I ran a pigtail through a slot in the bottom of =
the radio=20
for my RCA 12 inch monitor speaker ... what great sound.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I have a small gripe that I am sure will be taken =
care of in=20
software revisions .... when switching back to a vfo from a memory the =
filter=20
selection stays on the filter selected by the memory and does not =
go back=20
to the previously used filter by the VFO. When changing bands the =
mode is=20
not remembered ... from 75 meters LSB I select 20 meters and the radio =
stays in=20
LSB. For now I use VFO A for 75 & 40 and VFO B on 20 =
cause it=20
does remember mode from one VFO to the other.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I think TenTec has come up with a very progressive =
product=20
that has been released with fewer bugs than I expected. =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Terry W6RU</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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