I think a nice Drake C line with Sherwood fully modified R-4C is the
ticket...
Lee
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick - NJ0IP / DJ0IP <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment' <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Sun, Apr 25, 2010 6:29 am
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OMNI VII vs. K3 ? Opinions invited.,
Nice info, Toby.
My problem is, I'm both; rag chewer and contester.
But your other good point is something I need to consider.
Like you, I sometimes don't turn on the rig for weeks or even months at
a
time.
And at my age, we all forget.
I have an FT-900 which I use for occasional rag chewing.
It has NO Menus.
Everything has a knob.
And that is one of my favorite rigs of all times.
I move it around in the house or out to the patio and use it wherever I
am.
When a contest comes, I turn to my contest rig.
The Omni VI was good because there were few menu adjustments to make.
The Omni VII was best because I didn't need the book much, after
initially
studying it.
On this feature, it beats the K3 hands down.
But what if I need a real weak one in the contest, and there is lots of
QRM....
The K3 beats about anything except the high end rigs.
A lot of people keep bringing up the price of "full blown".
I don't need that.
I need a good transceiver.
One SSB filter and one CW filter.
We talking just over $2K.
If you add in the band filter and 6kHz filter so that you get the
general
coverage RX, it comes in at the same price as the Omni VII.
Viola!
I'm going to read the manual for the K3 and study its setup procedures.
If it scares me off, I will buy the O7.
73
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Toby Pennington
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 10:33 PM
To: Ten Tec List
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OMNI VII vs. K3 ? Opinions invited.,
I have not owned a Omni 7, but I have owned two K3s over the past 12
months.
I sold the first K3 after trying to figure out how to use it.
Probably had
it about two weeks.
The Second K3 was fully loaded and a late serial number. This radio
blew a
speaker audio chip, and had to be sent back to Aptos for repair. I
probably had this one about a month.
Both were bought used for a good price so did not lose a lot on resale.
However, the second rig if bought at todays prices would cost over
$5,000,
so it is not really a low priced rig if fully featured....and in fact
can be
very expensive.
I tend to agree with Carl, N4PY, if you are not going to do serious
contesting, or operate diversity receive, it would be best to get
something
more appropriate for what your style of operating is. This rig is not
easy
to set up and learn, and will take a number of weeks plus several phone
calls to Elecraft to get you out of messes you get yourself into.
After about a month, you should have every thing in the menus set up
and
operation should be easier. However, if you only operate the rig for
a
day or so every now and then, you will forget how some things worked.
MY biggest complaint with the K3 is there are no dedicated band
buttons, or
band stacking registers, and you are forced to work from the memories.
I don't want to be negative, as Elecraft rapidly over a two year
period,
has implemented the full feature set as originally advertised two years
ago.
They have been good to their word with the feature set, and keep in
touch
with their customers via their website and reflectors. Updates come
along
frequently and the firmware has few bugs. Bugs are fixed very quickly.
Elecraft is on a roll and moving along with an excellent rig. However,
if
you are a rag chewer and not into contesting, or you are just a casual
operator, I think it would be best to choose a rig that is more
intuitive
and easier to operate.
Toby W4CAK
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