[TenTec] Delta II revisited (including AM audio)

[Caitlyn Martin]

Hi, everyone,

Well.... my new (to me) Delta II arrived and I had a chance last night
to get familiar with the rig all over again.

There was a question about AM receive audio on the reflector a few days
ago.  I didn't remember it being all that good.  Was I ever wrong!  I
did some SWLing last night and the Delta II sounds very good indeed. 
The PBT still works in AM mode and can effectively allow you to adjust
the tone of the incoming AM signal to suit your ears.  Very nice.  The
sound was not muffled at all unless *I* made it muffled by messing with
the controls.  The only negative I can find (in all modes) is that the
internal speaker is small and sounds it.  The rig sounds much better
with a nice, external speaker.

I found some weak SSB signals on 40 under the shadow of broadcasters and
was able to sort them out and eliminate the broadcast stations.  The
Jones filter is much better with the PBT than it is all by it's lonesome
like in the Scout/Argo.  By using the PBT in combination with the Jones
filter I can keep SSB intelligable and even pleasant at much narrower
bandwidths than I can on my Scout, and the adjacent channel QRM just
drops away.  The notch filter is also quite effective.  I also tried it
on a moderately crowded 20m band, both SSB and CW, and was pleased with
the results.  The rig is every bit as good as I remember.

I have read that it just doesn't stand up under a very strong signal.  I
didn't find anything on 40m that could overload the front end, which is
a very good sign.  Of course, this wasn't field day or a multi-station
contest, so it may not hold up under those conditions, or maybe it will.
 I don't know yet.  I never operated a Delta II that way.

Noisy synthesizer?  Sorry, no.  Ten Tec puts the noise floor at -129dbm,
and I believe it.

My nits to pick would be the fairly flimsy feel of the panel where the
keypad is, and also the non-standard layout of the numeric keypad.  
In the $400-$450 price class on the used market the Delta II has to be
the best kept secret out there and the best value if you want a general
coverage receiver.  I do feel that a Corsair with filters is probably
better if you don't care about general coverage.  I also stand by my
contention that the QST review was either written by someone who did not
quite get how the controls operated or else had some sort of axe to
grind.  The Delta II isn't an Omni V/VI or even a Paragon.  It's just a
very, very good midrange rig from the '90s.

I'll post again if my opinions change after I've operated it again for a
few months.  Please remember that I've had a Delta II before and used
one over a period of a couple of years, so while this is a first
impressions post, it's reinforced by previous very positive experiences
with the rig.  The only things you can do to make it better are an
external speaker and an outboard audio DSP for (atmospheric) noise
reduction.

73,
Caity
KU4QD