[TenTec] TenTec 1254 Superhet Receiver

Bwana Bob wb2vuf at verizon.net
Tue Dec 21 19:48:54 PST 2010


Alan:

I have a 1254 and really like it.  It is sensitive and stable.  The 
steel case makes it rugged and professional looking.  It has a balanced 
JFET mixer in the front end and an AGC-driven automatic attenuator to 
keep it from being overloaded on strong signals.

It is a no-frills design, with only 5 kHz tuning steps on AM and 2.5 kHz 
steps on SSB/CW.  It needs a coax-fed antenna.  Using a single wire or 
whip antenna will cause harmonics of the digital display multiplexer to 
get into the front end and cause birdies.  There is a mod to add 
shielding to the back of the display board.

It would lend itself well to mods and experiments, like adding an LED 
bargraph S-meter, mute circuit, audio filter, or a different crystal 
filter. The stock 4 kHz filter is fine, just a little narrow for Hi-Fi 
broadcast listening and a little wide for SSB and CW.

I use mine primarily as a bedside radio. Its great for a little 
late-night CW copying or monitoring airline traffic on SSB. When I wake 
up, I can catch the news on Radio Australia.
I use it with a low (NVIS) 80 meter dipole or a 40 meter loop. For 
battery operation, the specs say it draws 250 mA. This could be reduced 
by adding a switch to shut off the LED display.

Its no contest radio, but I wish I had a receiver this good when I was a 
Novice!  Yes, you could buy something like a Sony 7600GR portable to 
meet your needs, but you'd miss the fun of building it.  If you want it 
for emergency backup, you could build a QRP CW transmitter to go with it.

                                                     73,

                                                     Bob WB2VUF

On 12/21/2010 10:43 AM, ARDUJENSKI at aol.com wrote:
> I was looking for a quality General Coverage receiver which could go
> portable and also use during emergencies (battery power)
>
> The TenTec 1254 came to mind but I was a bit concerned after reading the
> reviews on eham (which I normally take with a grain of salt).
>
> _http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1662_
> (http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1662)
>
> I would appreciate some constructive feedback regarding TT-1254 from those
> who have built/used the radio
>
> Thanks (and Merry Christmas)
>
> Alan KB7MBI
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