[TenTec] Thank You Fellow Hams (World's longest post, Warning, Multiple Topics)

[Jack Emerson]

John, WB4QDA,
SRI, but one of those kudo's was meant for you. It was late, I was sleepy, 
and I completely butchered your call. I meant to say "kudo's to WB4QDA and 
W4CAK".
Once again, sri. I look forward to catching up with you once I get settled 
in at the new QTH.
73 de Jack W4TJE

At 10:25 PM 4/14/2006 -0700, you wrote:
>Kudos Jack!!
>I really liked your post and agree 100%. I am going to
>miss you on the 40 meter Ten-tec net .I sure hope you
>get moved and back on the air quickly
>
>73
>John WB4QDA
>
>--- Jack Emerson <w4tje at lexcominc.net> wrote:
>
> > Within the next couple of weeks, I will  temporarily
> > leave this reflector
> > while my family and I move to a new QTH.
> > When I joined this reflector over 3 years ago, I
> > owned 1 Ten Tec amp. I am
> > proud to tell any ham who will listen that I am
> > taking with me to the new
> > shack 2 Ten Tec amps (Titan and Centaur), an Orion
> > 2, a 238B Tuner, and the
> > Ten Tec remote encoder.
> > So please, I ask you, put my name on the cult list.
> > 3 years ago, I operated 99% SSB, and 99% on 15
> > meters. I had not operated
> > CW since I passed my 20wpm exam in the early 90's. I
> > still remember telling
> > the examiner for that test that if he passed me, I
> > would promise to never
> > operate CW again.
> > But after joining this reflector, it sure got the
> > creative juices flowing
> > again. I still remember Tommy, W4BQF, talking about
> > his QSO's at or near
> > 100 wpm, and thinking he was a nut. But you know
> > what, it got me to
> > listening to CW again. And a funny thing happened, I
> > put the pencil down,
> > and started at about 10wpm trying to copy it in my
> > head. Now I'm up to 30
> > wpm in my head, actually more if the fist is good,
> > and I am having the time
> > of my life. I realize that CW is an art, and no
> > dumbing down by the powers
> > that be can kill it, as long as we continue to use
> > it.
> > 3 years ago, I used a kenwood rig, and thought that
> > Ten Tec was for CW
> > buffs only. But in recent years I had told Stan at
> > Ten Tec that if they
> > would ever design a big radio to compete with the
> > FT1000 series, that had
> > Kenwood's audio on SSB, I would consider it. They
> > built it, and I lived up
> > to my word, and boy am I glad I did.
> > I must say admit that 9-11 played a small role in
> > this as well. After 9-11,
> > I have tried my best to buy American made products
> > as long as I believed
> > the product to be equal to the foreign competition.
> > It's hard to explain,
> > but that's what I'm doing, and as long as my country
> > is engaged in a war, I
> > will continue to do this. So that partly explains my
> > decision to purchase
> > the Orion, but it has nothing to do with how happy I
> > am that I made that
> > decision.
> > Now here's some more random thoughts and
> > acknowledgements for anyone that
> > is still awake:
> > Having used both the Orion and Orion 2 side by side
> > for 3 weeks, I sold the
> > Orion. I would have kept it, but I couldn't figure
> > out a way to keep both
> > radios gainfully employed.
> > The Orion with the early software worked fine on
> > SSB, but would
> > occasionally lock up on CW, especially if the sweep
> > was on. I learned to
> > keep the sweep off, and never had any more problems.
> > The audio on the version 1.3xx software was better
> > than anything I had ever
> > heard on the air. So if ur a fan of great SSB audio,
> > and you own the Orion,
> > go back to that software if you think the audio was
> > better in the early
> > releases.
> > The NR feature on the early software for the Orion
> > was amazing. Under the
> > proper band condx and signal strength, I could
> > listen to perfect received
> > audio with no background noise.
> > On the Orion 2, the NR feature sounds different,
> > depending on who I am
> > listening to. On the Saturday morning QCWA net, for
> > instance, the NR
> > feature brings out the audio for some stations, and
> > they sound great, while
> > other stations on the same net sound terrible with
> > the NR on. So I would
> > say the NR is not broke, but it is different than
> > the way it worked on the
> > 1.3xx Orion software.
> > As for the audio, the Orion with 1.3xx software
> > sounded perfect to me, as I
> > said. But I worked AE4BC last Sunday, and his Orion
> > 2 sounded just as
> > perfect to my ears as any Orion that I have heard.
> > The audio settings on
> > the Orion 2 and the Orion with 1.3xx software are
> > way different. Ten Tec
> > told me on the phone there was no difference, but I
> > think they were simply
> > wrong on that. However, once you find the proper
> > settings, The Orion 2
> > sounds great, at least to me. Just 3 weeks ago, on
> > 15m, a European station
> > told me that the audio on my Orion 2 sounded better
> > than the audio of the
> > 1.3xx Orion that was on frequency with me. At the
> > same time, there have
> > been times when I have heard a rough edge on
> > occasional words spoken on
> > Orion 2 radios. I don't know if it is coming from
> > improper settings, rf
> > issues, or software issues. But I have heard it. But
> > remember, when the
> > Orion came out, it took about 2 months before anyone
> > figured out how to
> > properly tweak the audio on those rigs. I remember
> > many a Sunday afternoon
> > listening to Orion ops on the Ten Tec net marveling
> > about their wonderful
> > new Orions, and thinking how for that kind of money,
> > their audio sure did
> > sound very vanilla.
> > OK, here's my "thank you's"
> > W4BQF, Tommy, Yes I thought you were a nut, and I
> > was wrong. Then I thought
> > you were mean for disparaging the Orion. Then you
> > and I started working
> > each other on the air, rather than arguing on the
> > internet. I then learned
> > what a patient cw op you were, and you helped me
> > greatly. CW will never
> > come naturally to me, but it has come to me, and I
> > am still plugging away,
> > and you have played a major role in helping me.
> > Tommy, I still have no idea
> > at what speed you top out at, but I am in no
> > position to dispute it. It's
> > fast.
> > N4LQ, Steve, another ham that I argued with here,
> > who called me up on 80m
> > cw one evening and was as patient and courteous with
> > me as could be.
> > N4TN, Don, runs circles around me on the bands
> > because he is just a flat
> > out great CW op. As with Tommy and Steve, tnx for
> > helping me along.
> > W4ZV, Bill, inspired me to try the low bands. Tnx to
> > listening to ur
> > activities on 160m cw, I installed some beverages,
> > put in some radials,
> > arose before the sunrise for 2 years, and finally
> > worked a JA on 160m. From
> > listening to you, I also learned that 25wpm is a
> > good operating speed to
> > shoot for in cw contests when condx are marginal.
> > Additional kudos to WB4BQF and W4CAK.
> > But the biggest tnx goes to Ten Tec for their
> > products. Ten Tec, you have
> > played the greatest role in the pure enjoyment of
> > being on the air than at
> > any time since I became a ham 29 years ago.
> > Finally, I hate to end on a sour note, so I will say
> > this as nice as I can.
> > The negative comments on this reflector do adversely
> > affect  sales for this
> > company. 3 weeks ago, I received a telephone call
> > from a ham who had just
> > received his Orion 2 that day. He was having trouble
> > setting it up, so I
> > got on the air with him and we sorted it out. During
> > the course of the
> > conversation, he told me that he had wanted for some
> > time to buy an Orion,
> > but after joining the reflector, all the negative
> > comments about the Orion
> > and Orion 2  had scared him to death. He said that
> > if he had not heard me
> > on the air with mine, and W4WTB with his, he doubted
> > that he would have
> > gone through with it.
> > Last week, he called me up and told me that he was
> > absolutely amazed at how
> > good this radio actually is. Having used the Orion 2
> > for a couple of weeks,
> > he said that he still cannot understand the nit
> > picking on the reflector. I
> > told him to love the radio, but to tolerate the
> > reflector.
> > I am only on 1 other reflector, but it seems that
> > reflectors can be free
> > speech run amuck. I learned in the Marines the
> > simple rule to compliment in
> > public, but to criticize in private. When I have
> > found issues with Ten Tec
> > equipment, I picked up the phone and called them, or
> > sent an e-mail to dits
> > and bits. I didn't get on the reflector and have a
> > nervous breakdown. It
> >
>=== message truncated ===
>
>
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