[TenTec] Will Orion be Ten-Tec's Last?

[John Rippey]

When a company loses its brainiest employee (Doug Smith), it's time for 
black crepe, it seems to me, rather than sentiments such as he won't be 
missed because his work was done. One thing Smith's departure shows is how 
difficult it is to recruit and retain top-notch talent in locations such as 
East Tennessee. Virginia Tech, located not far from Sevierville in 
Blacksburg, Virginia, has the same recruiting/retention problems for its 
engineering faculty. Appalachia is not Austin, Texas, or northern Virginia, 
if you get my drift.

As I recall, Scott Robbins said on this reflector some time ago that 
Ten-Tec had no plans for a Jupiter + (or Orion -). That leaves the Argonaut 
V, which is the world's best 20-watt transceiver, the Jupiter, and the new 
Orion. Given that product line-up, seemingly set in concrete, and no brainy 
innovators on board (don't forget Allan Kaplan is gone, too), and no new 
rigs in the pipeline, it is somewhat of  a gamble IMHO that sales of these 
three transceivers will be sufficient to keep T-T's ham business afloat 
indefinitely. Of course, T-T has other businesses and is not dependent on 
just the ham business.

In the meantime, as has been noted, ICOM is marketing a new transceiver to 
hams for about ten grand, but this rig is designed primarily for the 
government/commercial market and will stand or fall on its reception there, 
where sales run into the tens of thousands over many years. Ham sales will 
be gravy. The next new ham rig from ICOM likely will be a successor to the 
756PRO II using some of the circuitry from the ten grand rig.

73,

John, W3ULS
Owner of OMNI VI, Argonaut V, IC-746PRO & FT-920