[TenTec] Ten Tec Advertising

Mon May 18 04:08:04 PDT 2009

Unfortunately, those of us with 40+ years as hams (some more, some less) see things as hams of long standing. However, a ll you've got to do is go to a small local hamfest, one that attracts the new members in a club, and listen to those new folks. I often have a TenTec rig set up on my table. If I have CW tuned in, a few old timers hang about copying. Not much interest. If I tune it to 80M or 40M SSB (20M DX would be great if we could just get some spots on the sun), I get a lot of reaction to the great sound of the rig, compared to others. I notice that many more newer hams stop by and li sten and talk to me about the rig. The old timers already know about CW and we love it. We know the strengths of TenTec on CW. The newer generation has a different view of ham radio. The true beauty of this sport (hobby) is that it can be and is as diverse as the members of our fraternity. 

Now, tune some SSB in the evening. Local folks, not the old timers with the AM rigs. You hear a lot of talk about equalizers and plug-in equipment that makes the sound better. The newer generation of hams seems to be attracted to things like 8-band equalizers, "professional" mikes with great audio and products like the new TenTec speech processor. 

Just my observations and my personal slant on all this. Yes, I prefer CW and operate in that mode 90+ percent of the time. I'm a dinosaur. I'm happy that way. Others are not. The times are changing. That doesn't mean that you or I should change. Bu t, it does mean that we should welcome those with a different view of ham radio into our fraternity. 

Perhaps, TenTec is trying to reach this new breed of ham while continuing to provide us all with the finest gear and support in the world, and they're still supporting the best CW rigs ever made. I've personally used a lot of the other brands and will not do so again. I do hope that TenTec w ill remain a strong player in our sport. I think they will. For those who prefer another brand, fine. You are welcome to that. Just, please, please, please stop railing about my favorite radio on it's home brand reflector. Your opinion is welcome, even necessary, but all the negativity is sometimes wearying. 

IMHO, ham radio is strong. Many brands of equipment are strong. Each has its following. That's good. Don't tear it down. Keep it growing. 

Thanks for listening. 

Dave 

WA3MKB 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Douglas" <sparks06524 at yahoo.com> 
To: tentec at contesting.com 
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 4:42:49 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [TenTec] Ten Tec Advertising 

I do wonder about the future of Ten-Tec and as of late I've not been too convinced of the effectiveness of Ten-Tec advertising. Their recent QST full page ads simply extolling "Great Audio" don't seem too impressive. 

I suppose they are trying to change their image from a company that is seen as catering mainly to CW enthusiasts. However, how many Hams are really into the "great audio" argument? Those that are really into great receive and transmit audio are probably running vintage rigs on AM and are not potential Ten-Tec customers. The DX crowd couldn't care less about audio quality - witnessed by the highly processed audio you hear during DXpeditions and contesting. Ask the average ham about audio quality and they'd probably reply that good audio is whatever is most effective in punching through and making the QSO. Bob Heil sells a lot of his mics based on that.  Hey, there's an idea: How about Ten-Tec teaming up with Heil and using his reputation to sell "Heil tailered audio" rigs and or accessories? A Ten-Tec/Heil audio equalizer, for example? 

So, where is the market that Ten-Tec is trying to reach with their current advertising? Meanwhile, flip a few pages and read the jazzy ads that Yaecomwood are running. I know that advertising budgets for Ten-Tec must be limited, however I sure wouldn't spend a limited budget on a campaign like this. 

Their former technical facts ads were decent. Also, rotating their QST ads more often through their product line, rather than running the same ad for 2 to 3 months would be more effective. However, that again probably relates to budget in terms of layout and design costs. 

73, 

Doug/WA1TUT 
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