[TenTec] What's wrong with the Ten Tec Scout? Not much.

[w8au at sssnet.com]

At 04:11 PM 7/8/2012, Kevin Anderson wrote:  (abridged)
>I own two Scouts - an original (Model 555) and the 5 watt Argo 
>(Model 556) version. Both operate just fine for me, with no drift 
>that others have complained about.   I have used the internal keyer 
>on the original Scout while operating stationary mobile (rover) each 
>year in the Illinois QSO Party, but I haven't noticed drift.
>They are solid radios, which is what I like, and they are very 
>simple to use.  There are PTOs in these radios, but they are not the 
>same design as the older Ten-Tec radios, and so you don't need to 
>rebuild them.  The tuning is stiff, however, which does take some 
>getting used to.  Also the computer adjustments to help keep the 
>signal from drifting means that very minor adjustments are almost 
>impossible (because the computer interprets a very small adjustment 
>as drift, and compensates back again).

>They give the confidence of being rock-solid radios that can take 
>abuse and won't ever die.  If you can afford to try out a Scout, I'd 
>recommend that you do, unless of course you are afraid of falling in 
>love with its simplicity.

I agree with Kevin:   I have had my prototype (beta test) Scout in my 
mobile for about 19 years now, and it still works very well. No 
drift, unless it's a winter day and the temp inside the van changes 
from zero to 115 F because of the heater blast.  At those times I 
just flip the rig off and back on to reset the AFC lock.  QRQ CW 99% 
of the time with no drift.  I do open the rig and pull out and plug 
back in the Pic Microprocessor every few years to keep the contacts 
clean so it controls the freq properly. (mobile operation is not as 
clean as at home)

During beta testing I reported to Jack Burchfield that the receiver 
needed a 20 dB attenuator for noisy HF bands, since the RF gain runs 
full at all times.  His reply
was, "what do you want for $495?"  (the original price) :-)   (The 
production models never got the attenuator)   High S meter readings 
of band noise will show up
more often in the shack than mobile because of better 
antennas.   (160 meters during a summer evening in the home shack 
will have the S-meter pinned continuously):-)

One last note:  The Scout Noise Blanker is the best I have ever 
used.  Better than any on previous and many later TT xcvrs.

Long live the Scout.

Perry   w8au