[TenTec] Eagle Comparison

[Rick - NJ0IP / DJ0IP]

Stuart,

The Argonaut V's receiver is really not in the class of the other rigs we
have been talking about.
It's great as a QRP radio or casual radio, and especially for camping
vacations, etc., but the receiver has some shortcomings for contesting.
In Europe we couldn't use it without a preselector or lots of attenuation.

The Scout was not a bad radio in its day and I often played with the idea of
getting another one, but the Eagle put that idea to bed forever.  It's a
different price class, but size wise, it's in there with the V and the
Scout.
The Eagle's receiver will hold its own against anything on the market,
whereas the other two are just fun radios.
I would choose the Scout over the Argonaut V for contest because its RX is
better, with its downward conversion.
I would choose the V over the Scout if I just wanted a fun radio for
camping.

As for old rigs, well I'm kinda fond of the Drake 2B with 2BQ Q-Multiplier.
Transmitter wise - I liked the Viking ranger.
I used both many times at other people's shack; never owned either. :-(

73
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Stuart Rohre
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 8:08 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Eagle Comparison

Hi Steve,
Yes, isn't it interesting how well some of the older designs compare 
with current new radios?   Collins knew what they were doing most of the 
time.  They had many talented engineers along with Art Collins who 
started it all.  My impression is post WW2, he let the engineers do the 
prototypes, then he wold pass or fail them upon marketing, or business 
issues at a given time.  There was a transceiver they tried to get him 
to approve late in their ham product line, and although well thought 
out, he would not move it forward.  By that time, he had lost interest 
in day to day ham operating, and maybe did not grasp the trends that 
ended all the American ham companies, as the import and kit transceivers 
captured the ham world's attention.  It would be interesting to know, 
but likely-that Heath sold more HW 100 and 101 transceiver kits than 
Collins did KWM I or 2's to the ham market.  Collins sold those models 
into the commercial and military markets as well, which may affect the 
overall production numbers.

To me, the key receiver specs are dynamic range wide and narrow, and 
performance with a strong signal close by (Blocking).  The roofing 
filters are all important to get things started.  The sensitivity of 
most receivers is plenty good at the lower bands, but you want it about 
as good at 6m or what ever the highest frequency might be.  But all 
receivers seem to have down to 0.3 micro volt these days.  I look at 
Noise floor, because you don't want to be listening to the internal 
circuits of the receiver.    The local oscillator figures I think 
reflect if the LO interferes with the signal or contributes by products 
by leaking through the mixer.

The Corsair II is a fine radio, from what I saw of a friend's one.  It 
might be adequate for all your hamming desires.  However, another issue 
is how much longer will parts be available for it, should something fail?
I am thinking the same of my various radios, Kenwood 450, and Scout, and 
Argonaut V.

The Eagle really is calling out to me, as it has the front panel clean 
layout of my Argonaut V, but the V is only 20 watts top.  I like the use 
of dual function controls and no need to pull up a long small print menu.
I hope to get our club to buy one for the club station to replace a 
lightning affected TS 850.  (or at least we think it might be lightning.)

You can see how the Eagle compares, receiver wise, with other Ten Tecs 
by the Sherwood test list.  Hard to quantify, as Sherwood points out in 
one of his papers on his web site, are effects of modern AGC and DSP 
making the bands sound noisier than they are.

I think TT still has their 30 day trial period where you can order a 
model and return it after a trial.

If all you need is a back up radio, if you can get by with the lower 
power, you could get the Scout at 50 watts, or the Argo V at 20.  I have 
done quite well with my Scout at numerous field days with wire antennas, 
(albeit they were gain wires such as large loops or extended double 
Zepps).  You could get a HF Packer amp I believe to ramp up the Argo V 
from 20 watts.  It all depends on your number of bands of operation, but 
if you mainly stay on one or two, QEX had some amplifier projects a few 
years back, that are easily built for one or two bands.  I put the 
Corsair II in the class of the Omni VI with all its upgrades, a well 
done evolved product.  I wanted an Omni VI for many years, but now 
realize that its semiconductor inventory is getting on the hard to come 
by list.  Plus, its crystal filtering has aged, and will continue to age 
possibly degrading its
performance, being an older radio.  But, the radio was a high end model 
in its time.   The simplicity of controls apparent on the Eagle really 
attracts me.  I find the modern menu driven HTs very hard to deal with 
in programming, and use.  With eyesight not as good, I can most enjoy 
simple uncluttered controls and displays.

There are some things in the controls of my TS 450 I still don't know 
what to use them for, and may never get around to it.  I can make it 
play for my style of operating, and that seems just fine.  Extra buttons 
and knobs than the basics really only increase one's chances of getting 
something set wrong.

More and more, I am attracted to the historic old radios, with few 
knobs.  I do like bandswitching, but my choice of the plug in coils 
Scout showed me that is not a bad way to use a station.  In most 
contests you have to remain on a band a certain minimum time anyway, so 
having to plug in a coil set is no biggie.  I found I could buy a box 
that held all my not in use plug in coil modules, and it kept them 
organized on the operating table
at Field Day just fine.

73,
Stuart Rohre
K5KVH

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