Kevin, don't you think a lot of expensive radios have been "paid for" using
plastic money like Visa.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Anderson" <k9iua@yahoo.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] The Eagle inflation costs, etc.
I didn't mean any disrespect for the Eagle in my post of a few days ago.
And I appreciate Jack noticing my post and specifically replying to it.
I personally would buy an Eagle if I could afford it (and would have
bought the Argo V earlier if I could have afforded it then, as I am mainly
a QRP operator). I'm partial to the wider and not so tall format of the
Scout, Argo V, and Eagle. I much prefer their smaller size and
proportions to the format and size of the Jupiter, Orion, and Omni VI (and
before that the Paragon II, Omni V, and Omni VI), as I've long considered
them too boxy and large for my shack. Before I got my two Scouts, I used
to own an Argosy II and Century 22, which again share more similarities to
my preferences. I parted with those two older radios mainly because I
grew tired of having to rebuild PTOs and wanted someone else to enjoy
those radios while they had the chance. And the PTO limitations of the
older Corsair, early Omnis and Tritons, is why I wouldn't personally buy
one for myself, regardless of how good they are. While the Scout has a
PTO (the last of the Ten-Tec
PTO radios), it is a much different PTO design and one not requiring
rebuilding. My only beef with the Scout, besides the module-based band
switching, is that I wish the RIT covered +/- 6 khz, instead of its very
limiting 1.4 or so, because then I might be able to work a bit more DX in
pileup situations; right now I'm basically out of luck for thinking about
working DXpeditions and sought-after DX. Otherwise, for its cost, the
Scout was/is a decent, solid, dependable, usable radio.
I don't doubt that a cheaper or more bare-bones radio is not good in
serious contesting situations. I wouldn't want that either. My limited
experience operating at club field days and some other multi-multi
situations is that Ten Tec and maybe Kenwood work well, with Icom
generally being the worst and Yaesu being somewhere in between, at
tolerating station-to-station interference.
And I don't deny Jack's business assessment that even Ten-Tec couldn't
produce a Scout today, let alone a multi-band version of such a low-end
radio, at an affordable (to me) price. When I look at what an Elecraft K2
costs new, $699 for just the 10-watt CW-only version, which is for the
kit, with assembly still required, there is no way I can expect Ten-Tec to
do that or less with an assembled radio. Nor is it fair to ask them to.
But I want them to stay in business, so I have the option of buying a
well-built radio made here in the States, and more importantly still being
able to get older radios repaired.
And so I will still watch the Eagle with interest, and hope that it does
get bought and become successful for Ten-Tec, as at least then I might be
able to buy a used one in six to ten years time (as I still hope someday I
might upgrade to an Argo V).
But in the meantime I still also sit back in amazement at how much radio
buying you guys do, and the prices you can afford to pay, as I know there
is no way my wife and I can ever justify it (and we are in our early
50s) -- to us, a non-essential purchase such as a transceiver at even
$1,000 (or even a K2 kit for $699) is well beyond our scope of
consideration. Obviously you guys earn a lot more than I do, or have a
way different set of priorities than my family. I'm not disappointed --
just amazed.
And speaking of Tritons of old now costing thousands today if bought new -
there is now way I could have afforded to become a ham then (or now) if
that is what it cost to get into the hobby. The only way I figure people
were able to do it then is that we/they didn't have nearly the range of
necessary expenses, at least in proportion to income. Despite the
advances in some areas economically, it does cost a whole lot more today
proportionally to live, and with it our expectations on equipment
performance, etc.
Cheers/73,
Kevin, K9IUA
--
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Kevin Anderson, Dubuque IA USA, K9IUA
k9iua (at) yahoo (dot) com
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