[TenTec] Delta 580 for Young Ham

Kris Merschrod Kris at merschrod.net
Wed May 12 11:23:38 PDT 2010


Darrell,  Geoffrey is correct on the CW.  For that age the rig better be a 
simple dial arrangement with band switch for interest in hearing what is on 
thair.   Too often on more "sophisticated" (Let's call them by name - 
COMPLICATED) rigs a person can get lost and never know where they are.

SO, why not just go for a receiver?  Yes, a nice multiband receiver.  That 
way you do not have to disconnect anything, and the joy of listening to the 
ham bands, plus general coverage, would be his.

On the license part.  Ther are usually classes and I think that a young 
person needs the group solidarity, plus elmer, to get with the program.

The two meter rig is another type all together for repeater monitoring.  One 
can get lost in them too!

HAve fun with the "project."

Kris (KM2KM)
Merschrod
123 Warren Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
www.merschrod.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "geoffrey mendelson" <geoffreymendelson at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Delta 580 for Young Ham


>
> On May 12, 2010, at 8:12 PM, Darrell Bellerive wrote:
>
>>
>> In my search for a good radio for him to listen to the bands, I have
>> decided that a Ten-Tec Delta 580 would be a great starter rig.
>> Coverage
>> of all the bands from 160 to 10, and a simple user interface. So I
>> am in
>> search of one for him.
>
> There are a whole bunch of rigs which would be similar. The earliest,
> Triton, Triton II, Triton IV, Centurty 21 and 22, and first Omni had
> analog displays.
> There was a digital Trition 4 and later Omni, which meant they had the
> same PTO as the other rigs, but instead of a slide rule dial, they had
> a digital frequency display.
>
> There are some differences in features and power and except for the
> later Omni's they did not have the WARC bands. The Century one and two
> are CW only. IMHO (and take it as exactly that), it will be near
> impossible to interest a child in ham radio with only CW.
>
>> Also, being from Canada, I am not well versed in the US licence study
>> materials. What would be a good study manual for a youngster to get
>> his
>> technician licence? I suspect at his age it may take a while until
>> he is
>> ready to take a test. I see that there are some hams in the US
>> licenced
>> at age 8, so perhaps he will also be one of them.
>
>
> The US has no age limit. He just needs to be able to read and
> understand English. There is some math in the test, so it may be
> beyond him. There used to be a series of video tapes from the ARRL
> (kids love watching video), but they discontinued them and have not
> released them AFAIK on DVD.
>
> There are computer programs which give you a sample question from the
> pool (the same questions he will be tested with), and check your
> answer. If you get it wrong, highlights the correct answer so you can
> memorize the material. After all it does not matter how he learns the
> limits of the 80m band, or what QST stands for, only that they are
> part of his memory.
>
> An other thing you may want to consider is he a builder (or in the
> current slang a "maker")? If he is and you can spend the time with
> him, you may want to introduce him to radio with a series of kits.
> Start with a no solder crystal radio and work your way up to a
> recevier. Ten-Tec sells kits you may find appropriate and there are
> several sites that sell crystal radio parts.
>
> Geoff.
>
> -- 
> geoffrey mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
> Jerusalem Israel geoffreymendelson at gmail.com
> New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge
> or understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the
> situation. i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found
> in the Wikipedia.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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