[TenTec] A/B testing of radios

[Alderman, Chester]

	Several days ago I posted some information relating to results of
testing various ham radios at my operating position, A/B switching the same
antenna between my Omni 6 and the other radios for four to six months at a
time. My conclusion was my Omni 6 proved to have the best receiver
available. Dennis, K8DO, just sent me the below email stating his
conclusion, performing basically the same type of testing. I think Dennis
had the same purpose in mind that I had when I was doing my testing, and
that was to keep the best radio, regardless of who made it. Dennis'
conclusion was different from mine and this certainly does not say that
Dennis' results are incorrect nor that my results are incorrect. It merely
shows us that unless you are willing to perform your own test and draw your
own conclusions, there is no 'greatest' radio in the world', an
unsubstantiated statement that we hear way too often.

	As for the Orion....we'll see!!!

Tom/W4BQF


Hi Tom...
Being on my umteenth Ten Tec series of radios I noted your comments...  Like
you I used to like to believe that TT had made the best choices and
combinations in the receiver design...  I have contested with TT radios for
years... I also have a number of other rigs and a couple of years back I
decided to do some A/B tests.. Fixed up a Daiwa coax switch feeding two
different rigs from the same antenna... Ran my latest Omni VI+ on one side
and on the other side went through my pile of rigs going back to Drake TR7
and continuing up to the present FT1000 MK V...  
Yes the Omni acquitted itself well... But the old technology TR7 could also
hear anything the Omni could, but the filters are not quite as steep (not
bad for 23 year old technology)... The MK V also hears any signal that the
Omni does, and vice versa, and it has a slight edge on signals just below
the noise level (using no DSP on either rig, just the filters)...  The
FT-990 came very, very close to both the VI+ and the MK V ( and I actually
prefer the 990's full break keying over either  of the others, but we are
talking RX performance here...)
For operating the Mk V has moved into the #1 run position on the bench
because it's second receiver monitoring the pile being available in one ear
while the main receiver monitors the Xmit frequency in the other ear has
major advantages...  The Omni is now at the #2 run position, and the FT-990
is trolling for multipliers...
Now, the new Orion... I will wait for a bit to see how it works once some of
the folks on the TT list get them on the air... I have a problem convincing
myself that doing fast arithmetic is superior to crystal or ceramic
filters... And it remains to be seen if an inexpensive product can run with
the big dog, hi buck, contest radios..
 
I only read the digest and don't take the TT mailing list, so I can't
post... If you wish to post this yourself, please feel free...
 
Cheers  ...  Denny  - K8DO


Chester Alderman
chester.alderman@fda.gov



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