[TenTec] Re: [Ten-Tec] Alas, not for me

[John Rippey]

Well, Ron and Duane, I remain medieval, I guess.

A.  I want a radio, not a computer. I enjoy using computers about as much 
as I do cutting grass, i.e., not much.

B. A well-designed, attractive front panel would be welcome, since that's 
what I look at 90% of the time. I haven't seen them in the flesh, but I do 
not find the type face/background used in the Jupiter and Orion displays 
all that attractive when I look at the photos.

C. A robust analog front end combined with well-engineered IF-DSP filters, 
selectable with a rotary knob, would meet my needs. The Orion, Jupiter, 
Argonaut and the Kenwood TS-870S have the rotary knob configuration. But 
only the Orion has the robust front end and, as a bonus, extremely low 
phase noise. Without the robust front end, you are left with having to 
continually tweak the RF gain, attenuation and AGC--as provided in the 
TS-870S and the IC-746PRO--if you want to cope with a crowded ham band and 
yet not overload the A/D converter. I understand a lot of such tweaking, 
which I find distracting, could be done by firmware, but the cost of doing 
so would be prohibitive for a ham rig.

E. Alternatively, it's possible to modify a TS-870S by shoe-horning INRAD 
filters in place of the stock 2d and 3d IF filters, and this produces a 
radio with pretty good dynamic range. However, in the process, you denude 
the radio of its excellent SSB receive/transmit audio characteristics. 
(Oddly, the cost of two TS-870s, one modified for CW and one for phone, 
would be less than a new Orion :-))

Many thanks for your comments.

73,
John, W3ULS