[TenTec] Centurian 422 vs Titan III

[HENRY PFIZENMAYER]

Jim - I totally agree that 1000 or 1200 watts versus 1500 will never make
any difference on HF. Glad to hear about the lack of arcing. I was somewhat
concerned about the QST review that said they had arcing - that was about
1992 - so I would assume by now if that was an issue Tentec would have it
resolved. (I tried to get some info from ARRL/ the guy who did the review
but so far no answer..

I was mainly looking for users comments about
troubles - and sounds like the Centurian is pretty well worked out. I am
partial to the 3-500Z's as opposed to the tetrodes in the Titan  . I would
think the Centurian design is old enough that all the bugs are out.

I have a Drake L7 that has run for 25 years in my applications , but has
gotten wild after I accidentally arced it over from plate caps to cabinet by
trying to tune into a high swr on 80 by accident. !!!!!!!  I have checked
the parasitic suppressor resistors , all the grid caps and bypass caps etc
etc and the weird RF choke caps - and it still sizzles at about 600 watts .
Bandswitch looks clean as a whistle best I can see with a dental mirror . So
today , I will fire it up sans cabinet and see if I can see what is going .

I have ordered an Orion , hope it perks Ok for me - hard to sort the wheat
from the chaff -- seems like  people either love it or hate it !  Truly
would have bought a Omni VI if I could have gotten a new one . My old Drake
TR7/R7/L7 has been plenty good for me , but is getting long in the tooth and
I spend too much time fixing and not enough time ragchewing !

I think I will order the Centurian this week and see  what the delivery time
is , or maybe even see if they will hold it until I am sure I will keep the
Orion. (Which I am 99 percent sure is the case)


Again Thanks - Have a great Holiday Season.

Rgds - Hank K7HP