[TenTec] RF Speech Processor "TX IMD"

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

Charles,

I don't agree with you on one point here.
95% of the hams were clueless when it came to RX dynamic range, yet we
managed to get it improved.
I refuse to believe that the OEMs were all good guys and improved their
radios because they were working in our interest.
It was the lousy position of their expensive radios on Rob Sherwood's list
which motivated them to improve their receivers.

Any ham owning one of these bad radios is going to be tearing up every other
ham on his block with normal operation.  This has nothing to do with being a
LID or not.  I lived on a block with 3 hams within 500 meters of each other.
Two of us had good equipment, one had a random noise generator - and he was
a very capable engineer.  His rig was crap. Luckily he never bought a
linear.

OK, let's agree the following:
 <> I go work on the manufacturers
 <> You go fix the LIDS!   (hi)

Bet I will succeed before you do!  ;-)

73
Rick, DJ0IP

********************************************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Charles P.
Steinmetz
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 12:11 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] RF Speech Processor "TX IMD"

>YET WE CONTINUE TO LET THE MANUFACTURERS GET AWAY WITH THIS!

Since we agree that the vast majority of hams don't know and wouldn't be
able to tell whether their rigs work properly, just exactly where is the
pressure on manufacturers to change supposed to come from???  The only way
to achieve the goal you seek is to get rid of all of the clueless hams
(which is way more than half of them).


>Instead they should be seeing hundreds of emails from unsatisfied
customers.

Again, since the vast majority of hams don't know and wouldn't be able to
tell whether their rigs work properly, what basis do they have to
complain???  One might imagine that those who DO know would be able to
persuade those who DON'T to join the chorus -- but even if that were
possible (it's not), as soon as the "DON'Ts" realized the cost of a radio
might go up by $10, you'd lose them.  At the end of the day, all you have is
people who know what they're doing complaining about radios they don't own
(precisely because they know what they're doing) -- and that isn't going to
get us anywhere.

The only possible remedy that does not require de-licensing most hams would
be to press for VERY strict technical standards and to require type-approval
of all commercial ham gear.  And I'm not hopeful even that would work,
assuming you were able to make it happen.

>Blaming it on the LIDS and leaving it at that, is not helping to solve 
>the problem.

Well, as I said before, anyone who operates a transmitter but can't be
bothered to verify that it operates correctly IS a lid, in my opinion.  And
at the end of the day, the person who pushes the Tx button is solely
responsible for his or her transmission.  So, while I will not dispute that
equipment manufacturers are not helping, the buck stops with the lids who
buy crappy rigs and then use them.  And the only way to eliminate their bad
choices is to eliminate them from the hobby.  So I guess I'm not blaming it
on lids and leaving it at that -- I'm blaming it on lids and telling them to
get with the program or get off the air.

Best regards,

Charles