[TenTec] 'Real CW?' - What's TT to do?

[K4IA@aol.com]

The root problem is there is no Novice class license being given  anymore.  
The entry level tech is buying a walkie talkie.  He  gets bored with it after 
the novelty wears off but the barrier  to General and "real CW" is too big a 
jump. He either puts the WT on  eBay or hangs around waiting for the day when CW 
is dropped.  Little does  he know he will probably get just as bored with SSB.
 
Used to be we had a ton of entry-level novices pounding brass in the novice  
bands and that is how we learned CW and the magic of HF.  With 75 watts  input 
and a crystal, you couldn't get in much trouble but you sure did learn how  
to have fun.   I was hooked 41 years ago and even though family and  business 
QRTed me for 30 years, I am still hooked today.
 
To keep this "on-topic," let me add TT has made some great CW rigs.   Many 
used ones are well within a beginner's budget.  The ARGO V would make  a great 
Novice rig and a good choice if it weren't priced so close to the Yaesu  FT-857 
(now offered for $689 at HRO).  What would be your favorite  recommendation 
for a newbie?
 
Seems to me TT is trapped.  It can not produce rigs cheaply enough to  
compete with the big guys on the low end.  It has tried, with the Orion, to  produce 
something significantly better.  So far, it has succeeded but is TT  too 
small to keep up?  How can they support the Orion and at the same time  be working 
on the Orion II?  Will the latest VaporRadio from Yaesu -  the mysterious, 
long-promised and still-unseen Ft-9000 unseat the Orion?
 
This is a tough business - I am glad I am on the consumer side and not a  
manufacturer.  

Radio k4ia -  ex WN4TUF a real 5 WPM Novice and damn proud of it since you  
ask!
"Buck"
Fredericksburg, VA  USA