[TenTec] eham review

["Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>]

The eham reviews are reviews; not forums.   Unfortunately, in some of them, 
they have been turned into debate forums for this or that product.  The idea 
is to post a review of your experience, with your purchase, ...yours -- not 
the whole product line... and move on.

"But ...when someone posts a bad review of something I like, I must respond, 
or.. or public opinion might slip out of my control!!!"

No it won't.  Restrain yourselves.  There is a leavening process.   Over 
time, if a product is worthy of continued manufacture and marketing, numbers 
and positive reviews will hold sway.  Admittedly, bellicose reviews with 
hyperbole and generalizations are annoying if you disagree with them, but 
the place for arguing over a review isn't in the reviews.  Besides, maybe 
someone DID buy a dud, or maybe they do have a lower tolerance for some 
annoyances you put up with (more on that in a moment).  With something like 
a transceiver, a lot has to do with the type of operating a reviewer does 
also, and what kind of antenna he is using etc.   Then there is owner 
history.   Ham A might buy Brand X vertical as his first and write a 5 star 
review.  Ham B buys the same vertical but it is the 5th one he has put up 
and he says it stinks.  He has had more experience with verticals and has 
some to compare Brand X with.  Or, it might be the other way around with 
inexperience resulting in a bad review.  Unfortunately these bits of 
background information are not always revealed in the eham reviews, which is 
why numbers and an overall impression from looking at all of them for one 
product is important.
Most hams probably know this.

Us old cranky middle aged males get picky.
A year or two ago, I was talking to a vendor who had recently quit selling 
high end rigs.  One reason according to him was that hams are unbelievably 
picky when it comes to manufacturing imperfections in high end rigs and will 
return one for the most minor thing.  He got tired of dealing with it.   I 
thought these hams were ridiculous and said so.  Then, a few months ago, I 
bought new, what was once a high end rig (not now -- it's been dethroned) 
from a dealer and discovered the main tuning knob had an out of round 
wobble.  I didn't think that would ever bother me before; it never did with 
the Omni VI, but after a few days with this rig, it really began to get to 
me and I wound up taking it back (they adjusted it).  I knew if I ran that 
rig for 15 or 20 years, that wobble would bug me every time.  Why?  I don't 
know.  It was new, it wasn't supposed to do it, and I didn't like it.  Some 
of us are fussy old men.  So that's something to take into account when 
reading these reviews too.  BTW, you can be a fussy old man and be 30 years 
old, so just because ur < 50 doesn't mean ur off the hook.

Rob Atkinson/K5UJ

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