[TenTec] A trip to the factory

[Michael A. Newell]

Hello All:

I just wanted to relay a bit of my experiences during my recent visit to

the Ten Tec factory (09/08/98).

My wife and I left Austin, TX, on Sept. 4 and drove to Jackson, MS
(an ALL DAY trip) to spend the night.

On Sept. 5 we left about 0600 and travelled up the Natchez
Trace Parkway to about Tupelo, more or less, then left the Parkway
and continued on up to Tennessee where we picked up I-40 and
headed east.

We made it as far as Exit 356, just south of Oak Ridge (which looks
like a really nice town).

We spent the night at a motel on I-40, then got up the next day to do
some local sightseeing. By the evening of Sept. 6 we had made it to
Gatlinburg.

We spent Sept 7 (Labor Day) looking around Gatlinburg/Pigeon
Forge. On Sept. 8 I had a tire repaired where a nail had gotten stuck
(but not punctured the tire, fortunately), then on to Ten Tec.

My wife and I walked in around 0915 and told the lady at the
front desk that we heard that the first out-of-town visitor for the
week would get a free Titan II. She didn't buy that, but did
introduce us to Scott Robbins, who spent about 90 minutes showing
us around.

Scott didn't buy the free amp story either.

Scott demonstrated the new RX-320, the pc controlled SW receiver,
and let me play with the gear in their ham shack.

He took us on a tour of all the facilities and showed us how their
manufacturing processes work, how they test newly manufactured
rigs, and how they hand build a lot of sutff.

He explained the history of the company and enlightened us a
bit as to how certain design and manufacturing decisions are made.

All in all a very interesting tour. A lot of stuff besides amateur radio

goes on under their roof of which I was completely unaware.

Thanks again to Scott for taking the time to welcome a couple of
weary visitiors who had travelled far to see him.

We finally made it home on Sep 19 after travelling to North Carolina
(to see my brother), Maryland (to see Judith's relatives), New York
and Canada (Niagara Falls), and Ohio (Air Force Museum), almost
5,000 miles in  16 days.


73,

Mike Newell
WB4HUC
Austin, TX
http://wb4huc.home.texas.net



--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions:              tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm