[TenTec] Ten-Tec transceivers, RF issues and how we build a positive user community.

[Jerry Volpe]

[I'm about to step into it big time]

I'm really NOT going to weigh in on the Orion issue. First of all I 
don't own one, although I have been considering obtaining one for the 
future. I do, however, have an Omni-VI+, Paragon, 526, RX-350, and two 
Scouts. I just traded off my trusty Omni-C and some months back I traded 
my Jupiter for my Omni-VI+. I am looking to add a nice Omni-V.9 in the 
future.  In past years I was the original owner of a Triton IV, Century 
21, Argosy, Delta, and Argonaut 505 and 509. With the exception of the 
Argonauts (low power)  I had to play the 'hunt the wild RF pony' with 
each and every transceiver. This has often been a very disappointing 
process. I think my Triton IV was one of the quietest, smoothest rigs I 
have ever owned but it went crazy at a hearbeat of nearby RF! So much so 
I finally gave up on it and went into my Heathkit years (another story 
for another time). But then I got my Omni-C a few years later which I 
kept for 23 years.

One thing I have learned through all this is what a good location, 
ground and antenna system SHOULD look and operate like AND the fact that 
I could never actually have one (sigh). I probaby try to do and 
interconnect just too many pieces of equipment for my own good. Anyway, 
today my shack is on the second floor by necessity. My ground wire is 
about 35 feet or so of RG-213 with the shield and center connector 
attached to an 8' copper ground rod sunk into California soil that only 
sees rain a few months of the year. At the station end of this ground 
lead only the center connector fastened to the common RF ground point (a 
trick I learned many years ago and glad to see others mentioning on this 
reflector recently). As I was leading up to the center conductor of my 
ground carrying RG-213 is connected to the Ground point on my MFJ 
Artificial Ground which is then in turn connected by really short ground 
braid to my AT-11MP and Ten-Tec 228B tuners. At one point I had ground 
braids going to the transceivers et al but that was an un-tamable 
disaster. Now, I have the extra ground braids just going between the 
transceivers and their external power supplies and NOT connecting to the 
central RF ground point. Of course there is the house third-wire AC 
safety ground.... ahhhh loops and loops.

Anyway add to my single RF ground point at the antenna tuners about 20 
lbs of snap on ferrite beads and cores attached to just about every 
signal line (mic, audio, control, power, antenna feedline)  possible and 
I can finally tune up, even with my FL-2100B and not suffer distorted 
audio, etc. I must admit that my Jupiter was nearly impossible to tame 
which was one of the many reasons why I finally let it go. The 
interesting point regarding the Jupiter is that last Field Day I 
operated 24 hours solid at the local club site (80, 40, 20 and 15 
meters) to a set of single-band bazookas without any ground 
whatsoever.... surrounded by not only my own RF, but that of two other 
simultaneously operating HF stations.... and I was interfaced to my 
laptop via a homebrew soundcard interface and, serial and parallel port 
control connections.... All this and not one peep of RF problems the 
entire Field Day! I was not connected to any external power system. I 
ran the entire time on my array of 12 volt sealed lead acid batteries.

Now, just to put this all in perspective throughout the years, and 
always in compromise station situations, I have also owned and 
successfully operated without significant RF issues: Hallicrafters 
SX-117/HT44, National NCX5 MKII, Hallicrafters FPM III, Yaesu FT-101ZD, 
Kenwood TS-520S, Collins 75S1/32S1/KWM-2A,Yeasu FT-102, Heathkits 
SB-301/401/102/104/104A and now a Kenwood TS-940SAT (others I can't 
remember at the moment). Ohhh, the Healthkit SB-104 was a bit RF 
sensitive as I recall. But in each situation where I was operating a 
station with little known RF issues adding a Ten-Tec transceiver to the 
mix brough RF headaches (but the are so great in their own way that I 
just keep going back for more!!!).

Anyway, what has always got my 'goat' was when I ran into trouble with 
my Ten-Tec equipment and contacted the company tech's  I got the 
unsatisfying company line 'there are no known RF issues with this 
transceiver'.... 'look to your ground system...'  I often wonder if it 
has more to do with how and where the Ten-Tec designs are field tested 
before manufacturing. I was a product designer/engineer for Heathkit in 
the early 80s. We were always on the lookout for different employees 
with less than perfect operating situations to field test our designs 
and our QC lab was meticulous... but a lot of this was due t the 'kit' 
nature. So I read the back and forth discussions on this reflector with 
an overly disproportionate number of them 'Orion' oriented discussions 
and those either dealing with firmware QC or functionality issues, or 
'ridding the wild RF pony! Regarding both of these I genuinely feel 
everyone's pain BUT....

[and now for the point, yes I did have one]  I wonder about how we are 
processing these issues as a user group. It has been my expereince that 
constructive, workable suggestions and feedback go a lot further than 
what often appears to be simple condemnation versus defensiveness. There 
is so much diverse background, skill, talent, and knowhow among us as a 
Ten-Tec user community that we can really boost the overall Ten-Tec 
experience by working together positively.  Should we actively censor? 
NO, but keeping our focus on getting things accomplished or helping 
others might be a good start. I DO think that the reflector should be 
for those who actually own and use Ten-Tec equipment and once someone 
has decided that they are better served by another 'brand' that they 
should move on to that 'brands' user groups. Just my thought.

73,
Jerald, KG6TT