Carl, you must be a mind reader.
I was just thinking to myself, "I wonder how many times in my life I might
experience that the QRM was just right such that the K3 would hear something
the OM7 can't hear."
Then your email came.
Let me tell you one experience I made in Europe:
During the evening when I was testing the Omni VII on 40m, using a 3 ele.
Beam at 105 ft. I had the following scenario:
At one particular frequency in the low end of the band, if I pointed the
beam northeast, there was a broadcast station so loud, that a couple of kHz
up and down, the noise level was:
- S9 on the OM7, FT-2000, FT-1000 MK5, and K2
- S3 on the Orion (I)
Weak adjacent stations could be heard clearly on the Orion which none of the
other rigs could hear.
This was not a laboratory measurement. This was on the air experience.
As soon as we rotated the beam about 45 degrees, all of the radios became
radios again.
I assume a K3 would have had the same performance as the Orion.
I could have easily pointed the beam northwest (I was in Munich Germany
during the test) and worked stateside on any of the radios, just 1 kHz away,
but only the Orion would have worked a JA station (northeast) under these
conditions.
This is the difference I am talking about.
Two realities:
1. I will never own a 3 element 40m beam at 105 ft.
2. The broadcast stations have now moved out of the 40m ham band and 40m in
Europe is now much more civilized than it was when I lived there 3 years
ago. This may now be a mute point.
The question remains, do I want to give up all of the comfort and
convenience of the OM7, just in case I might once in my life want to work a
rare one. To be honest, I probably won't even be on the bands when the
opportunity occurs.
ANOTHER POINT: Ten-Tec 100w transmitters
Ten-Tec has been shipping 100w transceivers for 35 years now, and until
recently, none of them ever even had an option for a fan. And these are
rated FULL POWER INTO 3:1 SWR! Contesters and RTTY guys placed a small
external fan behind the rig to move the air; that was it.
As far as I know, all other rigs start to reduce output power as the SWR
goes up.
Many need to use an internal tuner just to match the input of their linear.
None of the K3 owners touched on this point when they were relating their
experience to us. I checked the QST review of the K3 and didn't find any
specifics on the point. I wonder how the K3 treats 2:1 and higher SWR?
For example, a "Bad Example": The new FT-950 which is otherwise a nice
radio, uses an internal tuner for matching "up to 3:1 SWR"!
Heck, you don't even need a tuner for that if you have a Ten-Tec.
The OM7 internal tuner can match SWR up to 10:1, but so can the K3.
To me, this full power into 3:1 SWR, AND its operating ergonomics are the
unique selling points of the OM7.
73
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of N4PY2
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 6:51 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OMNI VII vs. K3 ? Opinions invited.,
The Omni VII receiver is excellent at pulling out weak signals amoung very
strong ones. I really doubt you will ever find a situation where the K3
will be better at this. Look at the specs for it at Sherwood.
Carl Moreschi N4PY
121 Little Bell Drive
Hays, NC 28635
www.n4py.com
c
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