[SEDXC] Ten-tec Titan Linear Amplifier

[John Laney]

Hello all:

This is going to be embarrassing, but I feel I should ask.

I have a Tentec Titan (the original one, I think) that I used to good 
advantage for a number of years ending in 1991.  I bought it from Radio 
Wholesale when it was run in Columbus by WB4JUN and he was a Tentec 
dealer back when they had dealers.

Generally, it had only one problem.  That was a parasitic signal in the 
20 meter band.  Tentech checked out the amp and said that there was 
nothing wrong with it--it must be something in the way I had it hooked 
up.  In about November, 1991, it suddenly had no output on 40 meters. 
So, I sent it back to Tentec for repairs.  At the same time, I told them 
that I thought it was a shame that it wouldn't operate with my Tentec 
transceivers, an Omni D and a Corsair II, in VOX mode without my 
constructing some type of an external device.  I thought they should 
make their amps to work with their transceivers.

In late January, 1992, I got the Titan back from the factory repaired. 
They also gave me a diagram about how to hook the units together so that 
it would operate VOX with my Tentec transceivers.  I was pretty excited 
and was trying to get ready to get on the air on CW for the annual FOC 
Marathon for the FOC club.  In the process, I tried to hook it up as 
directed, but I forgot to attach the high voltage connection between the 
power supply and the amplifier itself.  (This is the first embarrassing 
part.)  Either when I turned on the on/off switch or when I plugged it 
into the 220 volt receptacle, there was an arc, and the circuit breaker 
tripped.  The 220 volt plug was burned up.  I plugged in the h.v. cable 
that I had forgotten to plug in, put on a new 220 v plug, reset the 
breaker, and tried again.  This time, the dial lights came on, the 
voltage read 2000 volts as usual, and I could not get the amplifier to 
key.  I tried to figure it out for some time, but gave up, put it in the 
spare room, and went without an amplifier until I bought an old SB220 in 
1995.  Since then, I have got several other amps.  I'd still like to 
have the Titan to use, but I have been too embarrassed by my stupidity 
to ever do anything about it.  (That is the second embarrassing part.) 
I don't know what is wrong with it or even if anything is wrong with it. 
  Maybe I just didn't get it hooked up right (but I don't think so). 
Dale, W4QM, told me at a FOC gathering in May 1992 that he thought it 
sounded like I had blown the low voltage control circuit.  I mentioned 
this to W4PA at Tentec and he said that didn't sound like what usually 
happened when people forget to plug in the h.v. cable.

There is a guy in Washington or Oregon (K7GT) that I told this sad tale 
to on the air when he told me he had a Titan.  Now, he has offered me 
$500.00 plus shipping for my Titan in whatever condition it is in.  That 
is $500.00 more than it is worth to me now.  Of course, I will have to 
try to find the original shipping cartons and remove the power 
transformer for shipping, which is maybe one of the reasons I never sent 
it back to Tentec.  He guessed that it might cost $1000 to get Tentec to 
fix it, but, of course, that depends on what is wrong with it.

I didn't want to ship it to K7GT if anyone in this area wanted it on the 
same terms.  So, this is just to ask if anyone is interested.  If you 
are, I'd be willing to negotiate.  For example, you could take it, try 
to fix it, or send it to Tentec for repair, and we could then talk about 
what it might be worth.  The main thing is that it is doing no one any 
good sitting at my house where it has been unused for nearly 13 years.

Let me know pretty soon if you are interested.  If not, I'll probably 
take K7GT up on his offer.

73,

John, K4BAI.

P.S.  Chaz Cone, if you get this, please let me know.  I replied to your 
message earlier today about the W4GIW/VP7 trip and got a "permanent 
failure" reply that your mailbox is full.