[TenTec] TT 580 Delta

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

I never owned the Delta, but owned the Argosy for a long time.
As far as I know, they were the same, except the Argosy had only 50w out
instead of 100.

This was one of my favorite radios that I ever owned.
It wasn't perfect, but what transceiver is?  (except for the Eagle of course
(wink wink).

Several others have made nice comments about the 580 already and I go along
with all of that.
So I'll be the bad guy and point out the negatives of the transceiver.

FIRST, please remember that I owned the radio here in Europe during the time
our 40m band was only 100 kHz wide, and we had high power European broadcast
stations operating within the entire [US] 40m ham band. 40m being my
favorite band and having been an active ham for 14 years or more on each
side of the pond, I believe I have a good feeling for the difference between
40m in the states and 40m in Europe.  Believe me, it was significant.  It's
still worse here, but not as bad as it used to be, now that the broadcast
stations have cleared out of our band.

The biggest drawback of the Argosy/Delta was the lack of an RF Gain control.
As has been pointed out often, one way to enhance reception, especially in
adverse conditions, is to reduce the RF Gain control.
There was a mod to add an RF Gain but most people don't like to "mess up"
(?) their rig like that.

The second thing I noticed, especially in contests is, the receiver front
end was not yet strong enough to do away with the old "elevator" preselector
that the Tritons and early Omni's had.  On the one hand it's an advantage
not to have to tune a preselector, but if condx are rough, it can be an
asset.  
EXAMPLE:  A neighbor ham, just 500' away used to like to work 40m SSB on
Sunday mornings, running an extremely healthy 750w (our limit).  I would
often be on 40 CW.  I would hear his splatter and it was disturbing.  With
my Argonaut 509 (which had an 8-pole xtal SSB filter and 6-pole xtal CW
filter), I could tune the preselector lower in the band and almost
completely eliminate the splatter and noise from him.  With the Argosy I
could add in attenuation but generally my wanted signal disappeared before
the disturbance did.
As a result, I used an external tunable 40m preselector with the Argosy and
the problem was solved.  

I preferred the Argosy to the Delta.
Why?
My portable operations were almost always off of battery; mostly my
motorbikes' battery.
As a result, I typically ran only 10 to 20w in CW, but turned it up to 30 to
50w in SSB to be able to communicate effectively.
As such, I didn't need the extra power of the Delta.
In addition, there is a switch on the Argosy to run it in QRP mode, I
believe at about 10w and that was usually enough.
This reduced battery drain even more.

The real problem for this type of operation (motorcycle battery) is the
continuous drain of a receiver with digital readout.
Most people wrongly try to calculate operation time based on output power,
but that is insignificant compared to the impact of the receiver's constant
current drain.  Running an analog radio like the Argosy or Delta, AND
turning off the dial lights enables a long period of operation from a
battery without having to push-start the vehicle the next day.
THIS, IN MY OPINION, IS THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE OF THE DELTA (AND ARGOSY) OVER
LATER RIGS!

Like all early Ten-Tecs, you do have to re-string the dial cord from time to
time.  The elastic piece eventually tires and the dial becomes inaccurate.
Once you've done it a couple of times, you find it's not so difficult to do.
Just be sure you don't lose your tiny Allen wrenches for removing the front
panel knobs!  

Oh, and in my opinion, the size of the Delta is PERFECT.
I wish my Eagle were that large, with nice big knobs and S-Meter.
The rig is not too large for portable use, but large enough for comfortable
home use.

The Delta is an outstanding radio to have as a backup radio for use in
disasters.
It's low continuous current drain will enable long hours of operation from
battery.

73
Rick, DJ0IP

-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Paul DeWitte
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 4:59 AM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] TT 580 Delta

I have a curiosity only question.
Of all of the TT radios talked about here, I do not think the 580 has been
discussed.
I am not looking for one, but just curious if they were a good radio, or
they had a lot of faults.

73 Paul 

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