[TenTec] Rebel

[Richards]

Gee, PC, I do not understand your comment.  Are you down on the idea? 
What could be sad about a new product?  Either it sells or it does not, 
but I cannot see any down side to this.  Either it suits you, or it does 
not.  Either there is a larger market or not.

What I like about it... is the sheer adventure of launching a new 
product and taking a new direction.  Bold stuff for a slow economy. 
Exciting just seeing something new.

I just had lunch with a couple of hams who are retired programmers.   I 
took a copy of the web page selling the Rebel as one of my "show-n-tell" 
topics,  the other two guys each brought different arduino projects to 
the table.  We swapped notes and discussed possibilities.

So there IS a market for this sort of thing... even though I have no 
idea what I would do with it!  Somebody else knows, and hopefully there 
are a lot of them out there.

My only negative is the choice of the label, "Rebel" and how closely it 
matches the same name of Canon camera ... but the largest camera maker 
sells a lot of product with that moniker - so who cares what I think?  ;-)

Happy trails.
---------------------- K8JHR  -------------------



On 9/3/2013 5:54 PM, PC Anderson wrote:
> Really sad??????
>
>> Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2013 14:33:06 -0400
>> From: jhenry at tentec.com
>> To: tentec at contesting.com
>> Subject: [TenTec] Rebel
>>
>> The Rebel Model 506 is intended to be a platform that attracts a whole
>> different set of hams. Those that are software developers and want to
>> tinker around with some code to make the rig do what they want.
>> For example, at the moment, it doesn't tell you the output power level,
>> but, if you want it to show you the power level, we provided a hardware
>> hook that you can read and convert to output power level.
>> Display? no, there is no display on it, but, the display code is already
>> written, and all one has to do is buy a $10 display, plug it in, and see
>> what frequency they are on.
>>
>> There will be optional covers in the future where you can add on as many
>> "shields" as you want. (A shield is a board that either the customer
>> designs or we design and plugs into a ChipKIT UNO32). The TEN-TEC "Radio
>> Shield" has the necessary connectors so that anyone can design or add their
>> own shield. The "Radio Shield" that TEN-TEC designed inside the 506 gives
>> the ChipKIT UNO32 two bands and CW capabilities. You want to add an RX
>> equalizer? well, the boards already exist online and all one has to do is
>> write the code, add it to the TEN-TEC software stack that is open source,
>> and you now have an equalizer. Make your own sweep board from the IF.
>>
>> This is a builders kit for software developers to start.
>> It is also a builders kit for someone who wants to design their own circuit
>> board and add it on as a shield and add functionality to it.
>> The only limit to what this little qrp rig will do is the limit to one's
>> own imagination.
>>
>> Hams are always asking us to make rigs that they can write the software
>> for, well, this is the first.
>>
>> Download the code, add a switch that will switch the jumpers through a
>> control line, and now you don't have to change bands via the jumpers.
>>
>> As software is written by the open source crowd, TEN-TEC will review it for
>> inclusion in future "official" TEN-TEC base code sets for the 506.
>>
>> We wanted to keep it as inexpensive as possible while still providing the
>> software developer open source capability. To add the features that would
>> make it compete with much higher priced rigs, would have driven the cost up
>> up up.
>>
>> This product is already being shown and getting rave reviews from the Maker
>> Faire community, and in turn, it is bringing more software programmer types
>> into the Amateur community. I call them the "Heathkit Kids of
>> Yesteryear"..... THAT is one big source of innovation that will only
>> improve the hobby going into the future.
>>
>> But yes, jumpers? well, time will tell.
>>
>> Thanks, and 73,
>> John Henry, KI4JPL
>> TEN-TEC Engineering
>>
>>> internal jumpers to change bands?
>> _______________________________________________
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>> TenTec at contesting.com
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