Interesting topic. Mine was also a bit of an accidental purchase. In the
early 70's I was just married and living in East Tennessee and was well
aware of Ten Tec, but new gear was just not in the budget. I was using a
National NCX-3 that had been swapped all over town between hams when my
equestrian wife was selling an Argentinean saddle and was offered a trade
for a Ten Tec Triton I. She asked me if that was worthwhile and I leaped at
the chance to get that radio. It seems the owner had taken the radio in part
trade for an old pickup truck, and didn't know what to do with it. The
original owner had apparently tried to convert it to CB as the 10m band was
all messed up. With the new radio, a matching power supply, and a Shure 444
mic, I thought I had a pretty neat deal and immediately sold the NCX-3. I
took the radio in to Ten Tec, just 45 minutes away, and had a great tour, a
preview of coming equipment, and a fully fixed radio that I still own even
today. I was blown away by what were at that time some remarkable features
like being all solid state, QSK, having RIT, an awesome CW filter, and
automatic sideband selection. In later years the radio was relegated to
secondary status, but I could never bring myself to sell it and it stays
packed in a suitcase for portable ops, but still works like it was new.
For a number of years I used Kenwood gear, but after some frustration trying
to get repairs done I picked up a 585 Paragon, which I use today. It is just
about as advanced technology as I feel comfortable working on and performs
wonderfully. I have my eyes set on a new Ten Tec, probably an Omni VII one
of these days, but haven't found an adequate reason to change from the radio
I've been using for many years now.
=Vic=
WA4THR
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