[TenTec] Omni 6+ obsolete parts ?

[Tommy]

At Thursday 12:02 AM 7/13/2006, you wrote:

>T-T Gang,
>
>I recently acquired a Omni 6+ loaded with CW filters and the Inrad 
>CW roofing filter - I  LOVE IT!  :-)  And, easy to work on, even 
>with these old eyes (actually "eye").
>
>Question for the group:  What should I be looking to buy in the way 
>of spare ICs, encoders, etc to guarantee this baby will keep playing 
>well into the future ?
>
>73, Gary K7ZD
>Feenix, AZ
>
>_______________________________________________
Hi Gary and congrats on your Omni 6+...I bet your really gonna like 
this radio! I've got two of them ... hihi.

The 'problem' with TT's line of Omni radio's is they really do not 
'break' very often! Takes away some of the fun of tinkering! Ten Tec, 
historically, does a very good job of maintaining a good stock of 
parts for their out-of-production radios, so in reality there is not 
too much to be concerned about in the way of spares. If anything, I 
would probably purchase the output reed relay used for T/R switching 
(even though I can't recall of hearing of one ever going bad) and 
maybe the main tuning encoder, but both of those would be a stretch however.

These rigs use battery back up for the memory chip and the battery is 
located on the logic board under the top panel and I believe the p/n 
is 2025. These batteries are becoming kinda hard to find (in your 
local R/S or drugstore), however they tend to last four to six years. 
If you notice your clock losing time, it's time to change the battery.

If something does go wrong with your Omni 6 +, when you call Ten Tec 
service, the ONLY person to talk with is Don and you should ask 
specifically to speak to him. I have an Omni 6 mod 3 that I purchased 
in '92 that literally has thousands of hours of operational use and 
has never failed yet. I've had my two Omni 6 + rigs for a little over 
two years and they are solid as a rock.

73,

Tom - W4BQF