[TenTec] New Omni VII....first impressions

[Mike Bryce]

Well the UPS man just left a few hours ago leaving in his wake a  
brand new Omni VII.

You only get one shot at a first impression.

After allowing the radio to come up to room temperature, power was  
applied and lo and behold there's life in the new black box.

First off, fit and finish seem to be constantly improving from the  
boys down south. There's no rattles, loose knobs or logos on sideways

I especially liked the bag of goodies that came with the radio.  Mic  
connectors, power cord, RS232 cable. computer interface cable, as  
well as all the pieces parts you need to get into the radio. That's a  
nice touch. I don't recall getting much more than a power cord when I  
purchased my FT-897.

The welcome letter signed by Scott and Stan both surprised and  
impressed me.

Ok, on the air time...

Since I've had the Jupiter and Argonaut VII, I figured operation of  
the Omni VII would be very much the same. It is..

The encoders will take a bit to get use to.

And saints be praised!!! I can turn down the audio without lowering  
the CW sidetone.. I sure wish the Argonaut V would do that!!!

While the 40 meter band is noisy and somewhat dead, a few CW contacts  
were made. A few menu changes got the sending to where I think it  
should be (to my ears)

SSB proved somewhat difficult.

Checking into MIDCARS, took several attempts as reports of extreme  
audio distortion were heard. Using an old Ten Tec mic that came with  
the scout, I had to turn the mic gain down to 3% to get good audio  
reports.


First nit to pick..

I had the factory install the 500 Hz roofing filters.

The radio did not see the filter. Looking through the menu, I had the  
auto filter turned on, but still no filter.

Just about ready to call the factory when I decided to read the  
manual. Seems you must enable the filter too. I did and it works like  
it should.

That filter should have been enable when the radio left the factory.  
I know, I know.. simple to do. Read the manual!!
  But think of the needless phone calls to the factory that would  
prevent.

Looks like a keeper to me!


Mike, WB8VGE
SunLight Energy Systems
The Heathkit Shop
http://www.theheathkitshop.com/
J e e p
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