[TenTec] Plug confusion

[Barry N1EU]

Your power supply has the wrong connector - just solder on a 1/4in plug.
Every Ten-Tec radio I own has an RCA jack for the key.

Enjoy the radios!

73, Barry N1EU


On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 5:28 PM, Jim Allen <jim.allen at longhornband.net>wrote:

> I just received an Omni VI+ Thursday afternoon. It came with full
> complement of filters and the matching speaker power supply.  It is very
> clean, not quite factory new condition.  This one even has the voice
> synthesizer, as it was ownd by a blind ham.
>
>  It is sitting here side by side with my Omni VI Opt 3.  I've been putting
> them through their paces side by side.
>
> I really like these radios.  They look like serous radios, they perform
> like serious radios, they are straightforward in operation.  I can see that
> once I get proficient at using the filters in this radio along with the
> remarkable passband tuning and notch system, it will be pretty easy to deal
> with QRM.
>
> One thing that is tightening my jaw, though, is the plugs needed for for
> keyer, key, speaker  etc.
>
> I have to have adapters for every combination of set ups.  I have a 1/4"
> phone plug on my Bencher, from using it with the Icom 706 and other rigs.
> The Omni's take a 1/8" plug, stereo, of course.  The speaker is the
> reverse, but mono.  I have 1/8" from the other rigs.  The Omni's require a
> 1/4' plug.
>
> For some reason I cannot begin to fathom,  the speaker in the power supply
> came with what appears to be a factory cable ending in an RCA plug for the
> external speaker!  Most of the other jacks on the back are RCA, but not one
> for the speaker.  The manual says it should have a 1/4" plug to use with
> the radio, but this one does not.  It appears to be the original
>
> If you want to use a straight key, that takes the RCA plug.  When is the
> last time you had a straight key or a keyer with an RCA plug?  I don't
> think I have seen one in 55 years of hamming.  In most radios, if you don't
> want the built in keyer, just flip a switch and turn it off, plug in a
> straight key or some other keyer you like better and off you go.
>
> This set up is stupid, frankly. You have to obtain and keep  a stock of all
> these combinations of adapters, at some expense, and delay, Or you can put
> new plugs on all your gear to match the Omni  and buy adapters for your
> other radios, you pick!  Either way, God help you if one is misplaced while
> moving from rig to rig.
>
> There are a great many annoying problems in the world, and this is the one
> bugging me today.
>
> 73 de W6OGC  Jim Allen
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