[TenTec] 516/Orion/"software defined"/etc.

[Kevin Anderson]

I've been following these various threads on
the Orion and 516, and now feel it is time to 
put in my $.02 worth and give another perspective: 

I personally hope that T-T continues through 
with the 516.  As a 99% QRP operator, I would 
think seriously about purchasing this new rig. 
And there are quite a few T-T owner/operators 
that are also QRP folks (I recognize several
of the posters here as also on QRP-L), so 
sufficient market is likely there. I would 
certainly buy this radio before the Yaesu FT-817 
(I am one who personally thinks VHF should not 
be part of an HF radio), although I would 
seriously consider the K2 instead. 

However, I am not sure T-T can successfully 
market this many rigs at once. If you look 
back through their history, rarely have they 
had this many models out, although a low, 
mid-sized, and high-end model at once certainly makes sense and has been done by them before. 
A question is whether there would be 
enough differentiation between the 516 
and Jupiter to have them both survive. 
I am sure that the IF-DSP "core" is largely
similar, so that likely works in their 
advantage for having multiple rigs at once.
But it wouldn't surprise me that they drop
the 516 again (although it would disappoint
me).

The Orion sounds neat, but at $3300 I can't. 
It is for me to cry in my own beer, but I for 
one cannot afford that amount of money in this 
hobby. Even $695 for the basic 516 w/o PS will 
be stretching it for me and will take a big 
blessing from my wife.  But I guess there are 
plenty of folks who can afford $1,000 and above 
on radios. This is one major reason I've been 
able to buy only used radios to this point -- 
I am just about at the point where I might 
consider a used Corsair I/II or Delta II. A 
used Omni (V or VI) is still way beyond my 
means for some time yet (although I would buy
one of these before I would buy the Jupiter
or the new Orion). 

Which brings me to my last point for the day: 
"software defined" radios come 20 years from. 
A beauty of TenTec radios has been their ability 
to hold value AND be fully functional 20 
(even 30) years after manuafacture.  All of 
us have witnessed the number of Argos, 
Centuries, early Omni's and Triton that are 
still on the air. The radios now being built, 
heavily dependent on processors and now 
software flashrom to even operate, have me 
nervous.  I doubt a manufacturer thinks that 
far down the road, although the service dept. 
of TenTec must certainly do so! I hope that 
TenTec is keeping that in mind when choosing 
processors, DSP chains, ROM chips, etc., 
for future servicing. We have all witnessed 
the rate of change of computer manufacturing 
and how hard it is to find chips, let
alone software, for older equipment. It is 
possible that I might not buy the 516 for 
just this very reason -- i.e., that I would 
be able to operate it 20 years from now. 
And I refuse to think of an amateur radio is
just a "consumer item", to be pitched when
broken or out of date -- IMHO it goes against
the grain of ARS.

Now back to your regular contributors...
Cheers/73from Iowa. 
Kevin Anderson, K9IUA, 
 who operates a TenTec Argosy II, Century 22, 
 and a Scout (all used!) as his only radios.



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Kevin Anderson, K9IUA, Dubuque IA
k9iua@juno.com - Opinions all my own
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