[TenTec] This and That!

[Vic Klein]

While I do not have an Orion (still amazed and happy with my Paragon and
Triton), I can appreciate the frustration of those that have these new
radios. While not a Ten Tec, I have another top-end rig that I am in the 3rd
generation of and, while it keeps getting better with each update, it still
crashes, locks up, or fails to perform some needed function from time to
time. Havings spent thousands of dollars to be at the cutting edge, it is
quite frustrating and the manufacturer is totally worthless in providing any
help. In fact, when I go back to try and use an older release and ask for
help, I am bluntly told that it will not be supported. Still, I continue to
use Windows and grumble away, though my slide rule never gave me these
issues.

With the great Ten Tec hamfest coming up soon, why not petition an "Orion
Owners Forum" to be held the Friday afternoon before the 'fest and ask for
all the key people to be present in a roundtable discussion? My experiences
with Ten Tec over more than 30 years has been extremely pleasant and
rewarding, much more so than with the current competitors (Drake used to be
good too, alas). They might entertain such a suggestion.

=Vic=
WA4THR

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To:  "Ten Tec List" <tentec at contesting.com>
Subject:  [TenTec] This and That!
From:  "Toby Pennington" <toby423 at earthlink.net>
Reply-to:  Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com>
Date:  Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:11:36 -0400
List-post:  <mailto:tentec at contesting.com>

I live really close to the Ten Tec factory and have made numerous visits
over
the past several years,   and consider some of the employees as my friends.
I
have always enjoyed visiting and talking with the different personel at  the
plant.

A lot of what I have learned over the past years about ham radio has come
from
employees at Ten Tec,  and I have a lot of fond memories of talking with
employees from the president to service techs over that period of time.

Ten Tec does a lot of hand holding for a lot of us,  and we receive
incredible
service when we have problems with our rigs.  It is very comforting to deal
with a company that is so responsive when we have a problem with out rigs.
The
service department is the best, but.........

Our friend, Ten Tec, is having problems with its latest series of rigs,
namely
the Orion 1 and Orion 2.  The firmware is buggy and not working correctly,
and
updates are extremely slow in being released.  The rigs are not fully
functional as a result.

Instead of posting our frustrations on this reflector,  which I have also
done
in the past,  I think it would be good for some of us to actually make a
visit
to Ten Tec and talk over our frustrations and ideas for improvement with the
president of Ten Tec,  Jack Burchfield and Gary Barbour V.P.   Or, if a
visit
cannot be made, just pick up the phone and calmly express our concerns
without
shouting and screaming.

I believe the main issue is not really whats wrong with the rigs at this
time,
but the real problem is a total lack of communication between Ten Tec and
its
customer base,  to such an extent that customers do not know where they
stand
anymore with their purchase.

Customers are left in the dark,  and this is clearly the fault of the
management of Ten Tec.  Improving in this one simple area would go a very
long
way in helping to bring the Ten Tec family of company and customers together
in
a common effort.  Orion owners would like to know whats going on.....what is
being worked on, and what is the timeline for an update for certain issues.

Let hope our friend, Ten Tec, can make adjustments and begin to communicate
with its customer base..... Toby  W4CAK