[TenTec] ARRL Reviews

[Steve Berg]

I wonder if a lot of our preferences for radios go beyond the technical 
specs to other areas of performance?  I have an Omni V with the updated 
chip and a full complement of filters.  I also have a Corsair II with a 
full compliment of filters.  Both are excellent radios, but I keep 
noticing that my Argonaut II keeps wandering over to the operating desk, 
and pushing the other, more technically endowed units off to the side. 
It does not have the selectivity of the other rigs, but it seems to be 
easier to use for most of my contacts.  When I tried an Eagle out there 
at the factory, I was impressed that it had a lot of the same 
attributes, but had greatly improved performance over the much older 
radio.  An old friend has a large collection of radios, but the National 
NCX-5 seems to be on the bench for 75 meters most of the time.  Another 
has some really nice newer radios, but most of his contacts are made 
with a Kenwood TS-130S.  I am seriously considering one of those 45 watt 
Tokyo Hi-Power HF amps for the Argonaut II.  That would put me in the 
same power class as the older 6146 rigs, and should make contacts easier 
to come by than the barefoot 5 watts of output.  I realize that none of 
the older radios is at all compatible with any serious contest effort 
these days.  But there are other aspects of ham radio than contests. 
The Argonaut II and Delta II were given a generally bad writeup by the 
ARRL testing staff, and that pretty well killed them off.  But, they are 
seemingly in demand and still command some decent prices.  The fun 
factor is not easily quantified, even by such technically adept people 
as Sherwood, but it is still something that needs to be taken into 
account when purchasing a rig. I wish I had the space to put my Drake 2B 
and Gonset GSB100 back on the air.  They are both obsolete, but a whole 
lot of fun to use.

73,

Steve WA9JML