[TenTec] Wishes for an OMNI VII, a reply

[Larry Kayser]

Greetings:

My input to the thread of what should be in an OMNI VII product was the
subject of some comments, I am choosing to deal with it publically - the
vision you have for a new Ten Tec radio is constrained by your expectations
- my vision goes beyond what I already have and proposed to go the next step.

from K6RCL I received the following...

BUY a Kachina and be done with it..
DJ  K6RCL

Reply.  Lester Earnshaw, Mr Kachina, is an SSB design person who makes SSB
radios that have a CW capability.  He has been doing this since he was
ZL1AAX building 100 milliwatt SSB radios in 1958 or so.  I have no
information to suggest the Kachina will work 5 miles (or anything beyond 74
feet) away on a hill top with everything delivered to it digitally.  I get
nervous when I see a Microphone input, a CW jack and a Speaker jack on the
insert panel in the attached PC!!!!!  Besides, why would I even consider a
Kachina when I want a Ten Tec?


and from w shackleton, GM0GNT I received via the reflector....

What I can not understand is whay anyone would wish to mix a PC and a
Ten-Tec.

Reply. I do, I have since 1991 had an extensive remote controlled HF radio
station that is completely computer controlled.  The only analogue function
left is the FM link which brings the receive audio back to my qth on 443.975
MHz. The most important function of a PC interface to an HF radio is to
allow me to create for myself a very different virtual radio than you would
create for yourself.  When I say "virtual radio" I do not mean the silly
nonsense of the outline of a front panel of the radio on the screen either.
When I switch modes from CW operating to Short Wave listening, all the
controls shift appearance to reflect the focus new task.  Our wants and
interests are very different - why should we be stuck with the same front
panel that is suboptimal for both of us?  

>Why would anyone wish to destroy the fine performance of a Ten-Tec's front
>end by bombadring it with noise?
>I barely tolerate a PC during a contest - it has a job to do and does it
>very well. Logging, and nothing else.

REPLY. "Destroy the fine performance", you obviously have had limited
success at making a PC work in the presence of a good radio.  I solved that
10 years ago, sufficiently well that I have worked single yagi 2 meter EME
with a Portable PC on my knee some 10 feet from the antenna - NO
interference of any kind.  (PS I use my electronic watch hanging in a tree
200 yards away as a test signal for 2 Meter eme) I further have in this room
a Windows 95 machine, a Microsoft NT 4.0 machine, a 386 under DOS machine
and two Radio Shack Model 100's of yesteryear and I hear NO interference of
any kind.  In fact my 386 machine is being used with a direct digital
synthesizer card in it as the VFO and front panel for an experimental home
made all digital receiver - NO interference there either.  My remote site is
about 5 miles away and it has another PC with a 386SX and another Microsoft
NT 4.0 machine again with NO interference.  

>As for controlling a rig, what good would that do?
>Nothing can replace the co-ordination between your fingers and brain. 

REPLY.  My PC remote control does everything your fingers do, in fact it
does it better!  I have no unused knobs or buttons for my old, large, and
stiff fingers to push accidently, the unused knobs and buttons on the front
panel of the current remote control radio, a Kenwood TS-570, are all hidden
behind software.  My scanning controls make even sophisticated search
receivers envious, even with the Kenwood I can scan a 500 Hz window at 10 Hz
steps with a 50 Hz filter automagically while checking a dozen other HF
frequencies all with different modes and bandwidths while I am working on my
bench in the next room.  I am not sure if your difficulty as you expressed
in your message is with explicitly a PC or with computer control in general,
I trust you are not a regular member of the flying public as well.  In case
your not aware the Airbus line of airplanes are now FLY BY WIRE which means
that the pilot has NO direct controls etc...everything is via the computer,
that is TODAY not tomorrow already! 

>This is just another of those things that infatuate us but does not really
>enhance the performance of our stations.

REPLY.  Nice of you to conclude that 6 years of work, thousands of lines of
software writing, dozens of visitors from Europe and the USA let alone local
VE's have made an effort to come and see the station that is nothing but
infatuation!!!!!  Seriously, we do not share the same view of amateur radio,
what it is today and what it will be in general in 5 years or 10 years from
now.  I am greatful we do not share a common view - my view lets me step out
and go far beyond what is traditional today and to experiment on the edge of
tomorrow.  I did this for many years with AMSAT building flight hardware for
OSCARs 7, 11, 15, 16, 17 , 18, and 19, built a packet radio system long
before TAPR was even formed, etc. 

Wallace, I respect your right to operate as you wish, is it too much to ask
that I also have a right to a Ten Tec radio that just might be a step beyond
what I already have?  I like my CORSAIR II at my Island qth and my SCOUT
very much, great CW radios but I want my remote HF station to have a better
site like it has a 240 ft self supporting tower on top of a ridge outside of
town and no one living in the immediate vicinity.  I further do not want to
live on a hill top with a 240 ft monster outside!

More points.  The HF radio manufacturers have already seen a very large
"chill" in the HF radio market as have the major HF antenna manufacturers in
the USA.  If you think that in 10 years you will have a nice HF radio in
front of you in your suburban home without a steady stream of legal actions
and other harrasments to deal with - I suspect you will all be familiar with
HF remote stations by then and greatful for them....  I recognize that you
are not protected by a Constitution as our friends to the south think they
are or as in our case a Charter of Rights and Freedoms but your tort law of
nuisance is centuries old and has historic decisions that might make you
think twice about operating HF in years to come. 

Just to close.  Ten Tec should make the Front Panel of a new OMNI VII an
extra cost option, dont buy it if you dont want it..... 

73

Happy New Year to everyone

Larry Kayser, VA3LK , WA3ZIA





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