[TenTec] Why I like Ten Tec (long)

[w4tje]

hello Joe W2KJ in NC, de Jack W4TJE in NC.
great story.
tnx for sharing it.
i purchased my Orion in Oct, 2003.
i'll spare the details, but to bottom line it for you, it is awesome. not 
good, not great, but awesome.
first tentec radio for me, and i could not be happier. obviously, it has 
exceeded my expectations.
it is more reliable than any radio that has yet graced my shack in 27 yrs 
on air, and it has restored my enthusiasm for ham radio again.
one thing it is not, it is not an appliance. i play, fiddle, and tinker 
with it. and it is fun.
no problems here that a cycle off/cycle on has not corrected.
in the year that i have had mine,
i have rediscovered the joy of cw, and have now made decent progress at 
learning cw in my head.
i have strung beverages across my property, and an inverted L for 160.
i have worked dx on 80m consistently on cw and phone.
  i am now discovering the mysteries of 160m.
i have purchased a 238b tuner, and a second tentec amp, the centaur, and 
run both the centaur and the titan from the orion with no problems, ssb and cw.
in short, it has been fun.
is the orion the reason for this?
directly, obviously no. but it has enthused me to the point that i'm having 
so much fun that i am starting and completing new projects.
even my xyl now comes into the shack and plays on the computer while i'm in 
here. when i asked her recently why she now comes in here when she didn't 
before, she said it was because it sounded better on the new radio (orion) 
listening, than it did before.
maybe a new slogan for '05: "Ten Tec, recommended by jack's xyl".
as for the criticisms on this reflector regarding the orion and/or tentec 
service, all i can say is that i haven't experienced those problems. most 
of the criticisms are made by the same several guys over and over gain. i 
do not doubt what they say, regarding their experiences, all i can say is, 
it hasn't happened in my shack.
that's enough for now. sri to go on like this. i don't come onto the 
reflector every day to re-hash my views on my orion, because it doesn't 
make much sense to me. i am not a reflector troll. i'm a ham radio operator.
i couldn't care less whether other orion owners like their radios or not, 
other than the negative effect those comments may have on tentec. because i 
want tentec to fluorish, so they can keep making radio gear for me.
73 and ho ho ho de jack w4tje
At 07:15 PM 12/24/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Howdy Fellow Ten Tec'ers:
>
>I usually just lurk on this list and absorb all the good info passed out 
>but I thought I would relate a story that happened to me and why I go with 
>Ten Tec when I can in terms of types of equipment to purchase.
>
>About 12 years ago I was shopping for a new HF rig.  The OMNI VI was not 
>yet available.
>
>I decided to go with the new Yaesu FT990.  This was a fine rig on SSB but 
>I kept making keying mistakes on CW....kept me wondering if my CW skills 
>had diminished.
>
>To make a long story medium, and after many, many phone calls to Yaesu 
>talking to people who didn't know very much I finally got thru to a senior 
>Yaesu person who is know to all in the U.S.  He admitted that the CW 
>keying problem was known to Yaesu, Inc, that it was a timing problem and 
>that Yaesu was not going to fix it!!!  He was sympathic to my problem but 
>it was essentially tough luck on my part.
>
>I saw this chap at a Hamfest later in the year and caught him in the midst 
>of about 15 other hams.  When I was able to break in to make some comments 
>I related my story to him while the other hams were listening...my final 
>line was "So have I wasted almost $2000 on a rig that won't transmit CW 
>properly because of a known problem that Yaesu has said they won't fix"???
>
>He finally relented and told me to tell my dealer that Yaesu would make a 
>full refund.  This was a full year after I had started the process with 
>Yaesu.  I did get the refund and bought an OMNI VI,  best choice I have 
>made in many years:-)
>
>Fast-forward to 2003.  After having owned the Ten Tec OMNI VI/3 for 9 
>years I decided to purchase an Orion.  I believe I got a 2nd or 3rd 
>production run radio.
>
>I had many problems with this radio, problems that never seemed to happen 
>twice...just a lot of random problems.  After one trip to the Ten Tec tech 
>shop most of the quirks were gone but several new ones popped up...not 
>just nit-pickers but problems that prevented me from using the radio as 
>one normally would.
>
>I asked Paul Clinton if I was gonna get stuck with a bum radio since I 
>needed to send it back again......his reply......"Just send the radio back 
>and we will send you an new one"........Could I believe my 
>ears???....Well, coming from Ten Tec I was confident I could.  I sent the 
>radio back and got a brand new one in the first quarter of 2004 and the 
>radio has worked perfectly for me every time I have turned it on.
>
>Absolutely reliable 100% of the time.....now I don't go pressing and 
>pushing buttons just for fun to see if I can make if fail...I just use the 
>radio as I had used my OMNI VI.....the Orion is a great radio....the best 
>receiver I have ever used.  They fixed most of the earlier problems and 
>will probably fix all of the problems after a period of time.
>
>So Why do I like Ten Tec!!!!
>
>I buy Yaesu two meter rigs and I have an IC-910 for satellite operation. 
>But if Ten Tec ever makes a neat 2m/440 rig and a satellite radio all my 
>other stuff is going to get sold and I will buy Ten Tec for sure.
>
>Okay....so that's my story and I'm sticking by it:-)......I hope all the 
>bugs get worked out of the Orion but in the mean time I am enjoying the 
>best radio I have ever had the opportunity to use on a daily basis and 
>without problem number one.
>
>Merry Xmas to all and I wish a prosperous and healthy New Year to all on 
>the list.  Enjoy the hobby and enjoy the Orion.
>
>                                    73, Joe W2KJ
>                                    North CArolina
>
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