I bought my first Ten Tec in 1976. It was a used Triton IV that I bought
from a dealer in Rochester, NY. Although I had been licensed since 1962,
I hadn't done much CW because the radios I had were separates: Heathkits
(DX-40),
Knightkits, Globemasters, etc. Had very bad receive selectivity and the
transition
from transmit to receive was throwing a bunch of switches.
The Triton IV changed everything for me. The QSK was the first I had ever
experienced
and even the CW selectivity (I had an IF crystal filter for CW) was
incredible to me. I also
bought a Ten Tec external electronic keyer with a built in iambic paddle
which made
sending a pleasure.
I have been a CW guy ever since and now have an Orion and love it.
73,
Steve
On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick@dj0ip.de> wrote:
> I am interested in hearing how others came to their first Ten-Tec radio,
> why
> they bought it and how they used it.
>
> Jim, if you feel this is not an appropriate topic for the Forum, then pull
> the emergency brake.
>
> DJ0IP's First Ten-Tec: Argonaut 505
>
> 1974: I was living in Berlin, fresh out of the US Army. I wanted to
> remain
> in Germany for a couple of years and tour Europe by motorcycle. I had a
> Honda CB-750 with a full Fairing on it. A great touring bike for its day.
> Radios at that time were mostly BIG tube radios, or perhaps hybrid with a
> transistorized RX, transistorized low-level TX stages, but a tube driver
> and
> pair of tubes final - not conducive for traveling by motorbike and camping.
>
> In December I visited the local ham radio shop in Berlin, who happened to
> be
> a Ten-Tec dealer (as well as everything else). He had a brand new Ten-Tec
> Argonaut 505 on display. It was love at first site. Exactly what I needed
> for my planned 2 year bike tour of Europe. Liechtenstein, Andorra, San
> Morino, Marraco... there were plenty of expedition targets on my hit list.
> Little did I know at the time that 2 years would become 20 years. I bought
> the Argonaut as a Christmas gift to myself. After all, I had no family in
> Berlin.
>
> This radio and its successor, the Argonaut 509, accompanied me on bike
> tours
> for the next 20 years or so. It was the perfect radio for operating off of
> the motorbike battery because it's current drain on RX was only 150 mA when
> the dial lamps were switched off.
>
> The 509 was eventually modified considerably, getting an 8-pole SSB filter
> and 8-pole cw filter, as well as a home-brew audio filter, all installed
> inside the transceiver. Sometimes I even took the 405 amplifier with me on
> the trips. It was always a tough decision: the amp or the XYL?
>
> The highlight of my travels was taking first place overall in Europe in CW
> Field Day; must have been 1987 or 1988. FD is a club sport and I operated
> alone, but using an HB0 call sign surely helped draw attraction to my QRP
> signal. I beat all of the clubs in Europe in the QRP class.
>
> When my XYL complained about getting wet too much on motorbike camping
> trips, I gave in and switched to an RV. That was about 1996. I was nearly
> 50
> years old and had never had a vacation without the motorcycle. The
> Argonaut
> was replaced by a Scout, and then later an Argosy. For some of the
> important contests, I took along my Omni VI+.
>
> Unfortunately I did not take many pictures back in those days, but some of
> my expeditions with the Argonaut are pictured on my web site:
> http://www.dj0ip.de/my-expeditions/ .
>
> That's my Ten-Tec story, or at least the start of it.
>
> 73
> Rick, DJ0IP
>
>
>
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