[TenTec] OMIN VII

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

Some things just defy explanation, Dave.

Back when Ten-Tec still had a dealer network and the Argosy & Argosy II were
out, there was a fellow here in Pittsburgh who started a rumor that the
Argosy's weren't actually made in Tennessee but made somewhere in Mexico.
His "proof" was that no where on the case, allegedly, did it say "made in
USA" (at the time, you legally had to label imported items -- but not
domestically produced ones) and that some of the COMPONENTS were marked as
made in Mexico...

He freely admitted to me at the time that he never owned a piece of TT gear
in his life and never would.  But he was rabidly anti-Ten-Tec.

I can remember monitoring the old 146.82 Churchill (Westinghouse R&D
facility) repeater on the way in to work, and if someone ever dared mention
TT, boy, was he all over them.  Oh, further "proof" was that no one who
worked in the store would ever get on the repeater and refute what he
said -- of course, we couldn't under the rules at the time, especially while
"on duty."

Come to think of it, this was the same, er, low-life who called me on a
repeater auto-patch one day to ask for support & assistance with a Cushcraft
vertical he'd bought.  (I knew how he was calling because the demo 2 meter
rig's scanner had stopped on that repeater frequency).  When I politely
informed him that it was against FCC rules (at the time) to call up a retail
store on an auto-patch and ask for our professional assistance, he tried to
tear me a new, er, oriface on the air for the refusal.  Don't recall seeing
or hearing too much from him afterwards...

Ahem.  Anyway, the same attitude exists to this day.  We have people posting
negative "reviews" on eham on equipment that's been announced because they
don't care for the specs, or because they "heard" about it from a friend,
and all sorts of other shenannigans.  Heck, we right now have an irate
expatriate kvetching on a DX reflector because he didn't like the response
he got about an amplifier problem... who conveniently forgets to mention
that the amp originally had lightning-related damage, and that he's now in
Asia, not the South East US...

There's no explaining it.

Some people are just Oldsmobile people, like Ralphie's Old Man.  Some
aren't.  That's all there is too it!

73, ron w3wn


-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Dave Heil
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 1:34 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OMIN VII

Heck, I'm still trying to figure out how a group is anti-Ten-Tec.  I
don't have a Kenwood rig but that doesn't mean I'm anti-Kenwood.   It
has been my experience that almost no one can tell what brand SSB rig
you're using unless you tell 'em.

Dave Heil K8MN