[TenTec] E-HAM Reviews

[Rick Westerman]

Bill

For the sake of the non-contesters, I would like to qualify your
post (below) which I fundamentally agree with.

For Single Operators, Bill is fully correct.

For multiple operator contest stations running multiple bands
simultaneously, you can't just judge the rigs by the contest
results.  There simply are far to many other parameters involved.

The current ALL TIME WORLD RECORD for CQ WWDX Contest is held by
the Bavarian Contest Club (BCC) which I am proud to be a member
of.  We hold both the CW and SSB records.  ALL transceivers used
for this were Kenwood TS-850's (which is a 1-generation-old
"mid-range" Kenwood transceiver).

The TS-850 was chosen because at the time (about 5 years ago) it
was very good, yet considerably cheaper than the high-end rigs
from Yasue, Kenwood, Icom, etc.  The idea is, if you want to
bring 30 or 40 operators together to do a team effort, they
should all be using a rig that they are familiar with.  Nobody
needs to be "Learning on the Job".  The high-end rigs, though
better, were simply not affordable for many of our guys (many of
whom were students).

The TS-850, though quite good, is certainly not in the league
with the ORION, FT-1000, TS-950 SDX, etc.

But, just like in sports, a good team where all members play well
together beats another team that happens to have a few individual
superstars!

The whole point of this email is to point out that you cannot and
should not only use contest results to choose a rig.

Many of the team members of the BCC team that set the record have
much better rigs than the TS-850. Indeed, several now own ORIONS.
However they agreed up front that a compromise was necessary to
improve the team's synergy.  The results speak for themselves.

Sorry Bill, I don't mean to contradict you but rather to pinpoint
where the readers here should use your suggestion and where they
should not.

Bottom Line: Bill is right for single operator contest stations
but not necessarily right for team contesting.

73
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Bill Tippett
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 5:08 PM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] E-HAM Reviews

        If you are interested in performance, I would look at
contest
results more than eHam reviews for the reasons you stated.
Although
there is much more to winning a contest than the transceiver used
(e.g. operator, antennas, geographic advantage, etc.), contest
results
should indicate whether a specific radio may have serious
problems in
the extreme environment of contests.  The following results
(claimed
scores) are encouraging:

CQ WW CW SOABHP - NT1Y (W4PA op) #1 USA (SO2R w/2 Orions)
CQ WW CW SOSB/160 - K1UO #1 USA*
CQ WW CW SOSB/10 - W4ZV #1 USA*
CQ WW SSB SOSB/10 - W4ZV #1 USA*

*Single op scores all at similar levels as top multiops like
KC1XX, etc.

        I was particularly impressed by K1UO's multiplier total
which
exceeded ALL USA multiops including KC1XX who has a much more
extensive antenna system, packet access, etc.  You don't turn in
results like this on 160 without a receiver that is working very
well in
the most extreme receiving environment to be found on any band.
I
was also very impressed by W4PA's win in the most competitive
SOABHP category given he had some very stiff and seasoned local
competition (KQ2M and K1DG) who were probably much more
familiar with propagation nuances from the Northeast.

        Orion does have a few issues that I am very confident
Ten-Tec
is addressing.  However, for contesters and low-band DX-ers,
these
results should speak much louder than the "reviews" found on eHam
(IMHO 99% fluff independent of the specific radio being
reviewed).

                                73,  Bill  W4ZV



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