[TenTec] Paragon vs Paragon II

[R. Eric Sluder]

I own and operate a PI and it has worked just fine for me on all occasions.
If you operate CW and SWL then the PI will most likely work in your favor.
I get good audio/tone reports on SSB/CW and PSK31 is easy to setup with
all the connectors in the back.

As some folks have already mentioned some unit's PLL unlocks, but I've
never experienced that in mine.  As to the 9V battery backup... there's a mod
to setup a trickle charge to the battery and once you install a Nicad or Nickel Metal
Hydride you're all set (that is if you turn the radio on every so often to charge the
battery...).  If you're a very sparse operator then this could be a problem.  It just
affects anything stored in memories and VFO settings, etc.

If you want computer control then consider the PII as mentioned by Carl, because
I tried the interface with mine and a very kind gentlemen on the list gave me a
copy of the BASIC program and even adjusted the timing loops as to adjust the
program to the clock speed of my PC because there is no flow control in hardware.
It's VERY GENERIC and will backup your memories for you, anything else is pretty
slow and of not much help to you.

Also, some chaps on here have purchased the Giehl chip which is an upgrade to the
firmware, but I haven't done that yet since I was affected by the Telecom depression.
I've heard good reports on that upgrade.

As to SWL'ing... if you want PBT on AM it doesn't work (at least on mine) so the only
filtering you get is with crystal filters (i.e., 6.0, 2.4...).  My SWL'ing is about 2% as well
so it didn't matter to me.  If you ever want to TX on AM, then I believe the PII does that
as the PI doesn't.

It's my primary rig here at my QTH and it's used at least a couple times a week on TX during
the summer and on for at least 4 hours every evening for RX.  During the winter months my TX time
usually jumps up to about every day and the receiver is still on at about 4 hours a day, and again
no problems with mine besides the S-meter needs to be adjusted some day.

I will say one thing, if I were considering the purchase of a PII, I'd probably go to a Jupiter
for basically the same price.  Plenty of folks on the list can comment on that radio :^)

73,
R. Eric Sluder
W5WLW

----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Martin" <tmartin198@cox.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 5:53 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Paragon vs Paragon II


> I've never owned or operated either rig; would someone be kind enough to
> explain the differences in the two? If there is a website somewhere that
> details this, I'd sure appreciate a link. I didn't find much with a google
> search on either of them.
>
> I notice that the PII's are much less common and priced quite a bit higher;
> is there a good reason for this or is it mostly the rarity? From what I've
> read of them, I think a Paragon will make me a good get-back-into-hamming
> rig; I'm about 98% cw and the other 2% swl...it looks like there is a lot of
> bang for the buck in the Paragon at today's prices. I've had a couple of
> Corsair II's and loved them.
>
> All guidance will be appreciated!
>
> Thanks and 73,
>
> Travis N5AY
>
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