[TenTec] "End of an Era"

[Ken Brown]

>  Appealing at the time, this gadget is
> now gathering dust.  I have no idea what it would sell for, if anyone would
> even want it.  Icom never did update the software to work with the newer
> versions of Windows, and did not guarantee that it would work with 2000,
> although I managed to get it going without too much trouble.
>   
On the other hand my Hammarlund Super-Pro built in the 40s still works. 
I don't have to connect any interface cable or run up a program in a 
computer to make it work. I just flip the switch and after the tubes 
warm up it works. Sure it does not have the performance specifications 
of the latest whiz bang digital gizmo. It uses lots of power and 
generates a lot of heat. It always receives well and requires no messing 
with a keyboard or an kind of electrical rodent. It is a real radio, and 
it's era has not ended. I real radio like this for sale, and being sold, 
in spite of the high shipping cost for their sheer mass, all the time.

I don't care how "New and Improved", or "Digital" you make a RF to audio 
conversion device, regardless of the fantastic performance it may 
provide, if it doesn't have a human friendly interface that feels good, 
such as knobs and switches, it will just be a passing curiosity like a 
fake tinsel Christmas tree.

DE N6KB