[TenTec] Experience with the Eagle in CQWW CW

Mon Nov 28 12:25:12 PST 2011

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the Excellent review. Perhaps Ten Tec should sell and optional heater to rest the Eagle on. Hi..
Very enjoyable report and three more cheers for Ten Tec,

73,
Glenn WA4AOS

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick at DJ0IP.de>
To: tentec <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Nov 28, 2011 10:11 am
Subject: [TenTec] Experience with the Eagle in CQWW CW

During the 4 years I lived in the states, I did not do any really serious
contesting.

Now that I'm back in Germany together with my buddies in the Bavarian
Contest Club, I am trying to get back into it and I am amazed at how much
has changed in the 5 years since I was last fully active.

What I experienced this past weekend using the Eagle with good contest
software makes the entire discussion about the merits of the built-in band
scope - or lack of one - seem a bit ludicrous.  Talk about majoring in
minors.  Watching bleeps on a screen is about the same as someone who
doesn't know the Morse code alphabet, but listens to a CW signal.

I use a laptop to run the contest software.  I chose Win-Test contest
software, which is a popular European software here - made in France.  The
software uses telnet to connect to a server which gathers DX information
from various DX Clusters.  It then displays this information in a resizable
window on the screen of the computer.  The data is displayed in the bandmap
which resembles an old analog display.  The pointer is stable and as you
turn the VFO on the radio, the scale scrolls up or down.  The scale shows
frequency in 1 kHz steps as well as the call signs and locations of nearly
all of the interesting stations.  Each call sign is color coded to show if
it is a new country, a new zone (which is both), or just a station which you
have not yet worked.  If you have already worked it, it displays in grey
Italics.

I pulled the Eagle up just beside the screen, slanted towards the operator.

I placed the Vibroplex on the other side of the laptop's screen.

I was only running low power (ran it at 90w) so there was really no other
accessories to control.

This turned out to be a dream configuration, requiring very little body
movement to manage things.

I was worried that I would miss the remote tuning knob like I used with all
of the other Ten-Tecs, but since the rig is so small, it was right there
with me.  I didn't have to stretch to reach anything.

The nice thing about the Eagle is, not only are there NOT a lot of knobs
which can be twisted by mistake, there is also hardly a need to turn any of
them. I did not touch the rig much, except for the VFO knob.

In fact I didn't even watch the display.

Instead I watched the "bandmap" on the screen which gave me analog 1kHz
readout and the information described above.  As I turned the Eagle's VFO
knob, all of the stations rolled by the pointer.  If I wanted to work a
station, I double-clicked it and the Eagle was immediately on the right
frequency and the call sign of that station was automatically entered into
the log - but not yet accepted as worked.

I know all the hype around having a band scope, etc. but what for?  To see
some meaningless blips across the band?  In a contest you must be looking at
a continuous bar because the band is full of stations, wall-to-wall.  When I
used the Orion in contests, I did not use the scope because it was
distracting from the important information that I needed.

All of this functions on the screen of the computer with a simple USB cable
connected to the radio.  You don't have to bother tapping into the IF of the
radio.  Outside of the contest it's probably a different story.  For 6m work
and especially when using with a VHF converter, I'm sure there is a clear
justification for a band scope, but in an HF contest I find it useless.
Other solutions offer much more useful information and really don't cost
anything to implement, other than the small cost for the software license.

HOW DID THE EAGLE FAIR?

I began the contest with the bandwidth at 300 Hz to be sure the small
roofing filter was in use, but I soon reduced it to 200 Hz and left it.
Never touched it again.

I did not have an OMNI VI side by side to compare with it but my
unprofessional gut feeling says the separation and rejection of adjacent
channel QRM was better with the Eagle than on the OM6.  It is like I
remember it with my Orion.

I have the dual-RCA-Phono option installed on my radio and connected to my
preselector.  I had the preselector switched in most of the time as a
precaution but to be honest, it was not really needed.  In my previous QTH I
had another ham about 100 yards down the street who liked to run legal power
SSB on early weekend mornings.  For such cases, or when operating a MM, MS,
or M2 team it is clearly an advantage.  During the SSB contest recently I
found a few times where the wide-band noise was reduced about 1 or 2 S-units
when the preselector was in, but that was not the case during the CW
contest; I simply didn't have the noise this past weekend.

For my type of operation, this is a much better solution than the mod with
the external IF output.  Eventually I plan to build a separate RX antenna
for the low bands so it is nice to have this option for that purpose.  I
also tried my ANC-4 with these jacks, but without any disturbing noise, it
really was a waste of time.

Looking back on my 50 years of ham radio, I have owned some of the world's
best radios, but most of my operation has always been portable or mobile
using a small box.  Especially when contesting from the mobile I was really
disappointed in the radio's performance.  With the Eagle we finally have a
small portable box which happens to be one of the world's best radios.

Too bad I can't warm my fingers on it.  It just doesn't get hot.

BTW, I made just over 1000 QSOs with the Eagle during the contest.  The one
simple antenna was a somewhat different build of the OCF Dipole; it worked
all bands, even 15m.  I don't have a beam here and never will have.  Just
can't put it up on the steep hill the house is built on.

73

Rick, DJ0IP

PS:  You guys on this reflector asked us to share our Eagle experience with
you. This was mine.

_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec