[TenTec] TS-850s QSK & TenTec Diatribe

[Marcus Leatham]

I own one Kenwood - a 721 dual-bander.  The tone squelch decoder
only works on the sub-band so it is practically useless.  It seems
to me that there is always something wrong with each model of
Kenwood.  They don't ever get it completely right.  For a Jap rig,
the Yaesu radios are much better.  I will never buy another Kenwood.
Icoms are improving.  I owned a TenTec 544 Digital until last year.

I know this is the TenTec list and you're all TenTec fans, but the
544 was a little weak in the knobs and switches department.  The
antenna preselector became loose and I had to put a bigger grommet
around the shaft to prevent the shaft from rattling and turning.
Of course I did the PTO rebuild.  Even when the PTO was new, going
mobile and operating the PTO in the cold weather was bad news.  It 
was also prone to RF feedback.  I had to replace the display / freq 
counter board right after I got the radio from the factory.  The 
262G power supply / speaker / VOX unit seemed to have a loose rattle 
right at the center of the CW passband.  I had to replace the 1/4" 
phones jack with a stereo jack and put 100 Ohms in series with each 
headphone (L & R) to cut the volume down to a reasonable level and 
protect the output in case somebody jammed a mono plug in there.  
I never used the VOX because it was not easily adjustable.  I don't 
know how many times I almost lost a QSO because the power supply 
breaker popped.  I will admit that the narrow CW filter and the noise 
blanker were very good.

Maybe my experience was the exception rather than the rule.  I have 
been tuned into this list for several months.  Hearing all the glowing 
praise for TenTec has made me want to give them another chance.  I
have received a TenTec 1210 (ten meter to two meter transverter) kit.
It is built and ready to put in its case, except I am waiting to get
a coil from TenTec which was left out of the kit.  I e-mailed them a
few days ago to request the missing part, and I have received no 
confirmation.  I suppose it's on the way, but how can I be sure?  I 
am thinking "here we go again" with TenTec - ODTAA (One Darn Thing
After Another).  Without the coil (part of the 10M bandpass filter)
I can tell that the basic transverter functions are working but the
receiver seems a little deaf - probably to be expected.  I hope it
perks up quite a bit when the coil gets installed.

Never one to make rash decisions, I even bought a used Century 21
from Paul, who posts regularly on the list.  I won't expect the
C-21 to outperform my FT-990, but I hope it's a solid design.  I
also think I'd like to find a used Corsair II soon.  If there is
a 30-day trial period for OMNI VI+ radios, that is a good step on
behalf of TenTec to win back support for their products.  A few
more glitches from TenTec and I'll shut them out of my life forever.

- Marcus KR5N

Your flames are welcome and will be read but I probably won't respond.



>I have a TS-850s.  The 'full QSK' option is almost impossible to use -
>there are loud thumps/clicks, mostly on opening the key.  It's
>especially bad when the 500 Hz filters are in use, but it's very
>annoying even when using the 2.7 kHz ones.  Is this normal (am I spoiled
>by a Ten Tec Corsair I used to have?) or is it a bug?  Is there anything
>I can do to improve it?

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