[TenTec] Delta II/Argonaut II QST Review (was: On being a contrarian)

[Caitlyn Martin]

On Fri, 4 Aug 2006 09:49:31 -0400
"Bwana Bob" <wb2vuf at qsl.net> wrote:

> That was the Delta II and its QRP counterpart, the Argonaut II. QST
> did not like them. Also, they were higher priced than competitive
> Japanese radios of the time.

The poor review for the Delta II was due to the reviewer not
understanding the rig.  In other words operator error caused the
problem and he soundly thrashed the radio in QST as a result.

If you go back and read what was written the reviewer was absolutely
miffed that the combination of the Jones filter and PBT, if used
improperly, could effectively reduce the receiver passband to zero and
shut down the receiver. You can do the same thing with an Icom IC-781's
dual PBT and QST gave that rig a stellar review (which it did deserve).

Back when the Delta II was new a friend and I visited another local ham
who had his brand new Ten Tec side by side with two of the most highly
regarded rigs of the day:  the Kenwood TS-850S and the Icom IC-751A.
We did an A/B/C comparison.  What we found was that the Ten Tec was
comparable in sensitivity to the other rigs.  However, with the PBT and
Jones filter combination we could effectively pull a weak 40m SSB
station out of the shadow of a broadcaster and end up with solid copy.
We couldn't do that nearly as well with either of the other radios
which were the Delta II's main competition.

Bottom line:  the Delta II was a very good radio in its day and was
worth the money.  Time and technology have marched on, of course.  An
Argonaut V will outperform a Delta II or Argonaut II.  

73,
Caity
K7VO