[TenTec] Modern version of the Tec Tec Corsair - please Ten Tec!

Thu Oct 2 17:25:44 EDT 2014

Rick...
How do some of the older rigs do in your situation.....an old TR7, a 
Kenwood TS-520...can anything old survive, or must it be a current 
production rig to fight off the muck??

....Dave

On 10/2/14, 2:48 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> Wade,
>
> I quit wearing the cape; no more phone booths here.
> They went away years ago.
>
> People who have never operated in Europe simply have no perception about how
> much worse condx are here on the low bands.
> It has gotten better since the broadcast stations on 40m moved up and out of
> our band, and they widened the band from 100 to 200 kHz.
>
> The problem most radios have here at night is with Intermodulation
> Distortion.
> We have a nice name for it in German.  We call it "Wave Salad".
> It is basically an S5 to S9+30 noise level across the entire band, depending
> on which radio you have.
> The problem is front-end overload.
>
> The better the BDR3 is on the receiver, the lower this noise level will be.
> Keep in mind that these are noises which are not really there.
> They are basically phantom signals caused by the front-end of the receivers
> overloading.
>
> In general (with extremely rare exceptions), radios with upward conversion
> have about 20dB worse BDR3 than radios with downward conversion.
>
> To understand the magnitude of the problem, each dB improvement in BDR3 will
> reduce the IMD by about 3dB.
> So if I improve the RX front end by 20dB, it reduces the IMD by 60 dB, which
> means it pretty much disappears, except for a few exceptions.
>
> There are a couple of things you can do.
> First and foremost, use an attenuator.
> 10dB of attenuation will reduce IMD by 30dB.
> Of course if the station you wish to work is a weak DX in the Pacific and he
> is only S1 or S2, switching in 10dB or more attenuation drops him into the
> noise (the normal noise).
>
> Better is a good preselector.  These typically have 6dB insertion loss but
> drop IMD by 30 or 40dB.
> This is the route I went prior to the Orion.
> The Orion was the first radio I ever operated in Europe that did not need a
> pre-selector.
> I never experienced intermod on it except when operating with a 3 element
> yagi on 40m and pointing the antenna N-NE.
> In that case I could hear a few phantoms at about S2 or so.
>
> In the meantime there are several radios that are this good.
> The K3, several of the Flex radios, the Eagle, the TS-990, and of course the
> Hilberling are all good radios needing no pre-selector.
>
> Nearly 15 years ago I made some recordings of a Jupiter with and without the
> pre-selector and sent it to Ten-Tec.
> After reviewing them, Jack commented that he had always heard condx were
> worse here in Europe, but never knew they were of that magnitude.  As a
> result, he immediately added provision for a pre-selector to the Omni VII
> design, which was still on the drawing board.
>
> The Argonaut V was pretty much a disaster here.
> The author of the QRP section of a local magazine described its receiver as
> pretty much useless on 40m.
> Sales here were pathetic.
> Yet in the states it is a fine radio.
>
> The Paragon with its upward conversion will have a blanket of noise (wave
> salad) across the 40m band, when used with a good antenna.
>
> The good news is, if you live in the states, you will never experience this.
>
> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Wade Staggs
> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 7:49 PM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Modern version of the Tec Tec Corsair - please Ten
> Tec!
>
> *Hello Rick,*
> *                       Over the last several years, I have found real
> respect for your Facts and Opinion. Could you please expand and explain. I
> know that in Europe, you have a whole different bunch of problems from
> Broadcast Stations but, can you explain just what feature... IF, Selectivity
> or other, where the Paragon falls short? Would a Band Pass filter help? I
> call 4 to 7 HF Nets a week on 80/75 Meters. With the RF Gain backed off ((
> like we ran our Corsair )) and the 1.8 KHZ Filter selected, even with Loads
> of QRM, we can still hear stations that others miss. Even to the point that
> other NCS stations always ask me to relay weak signals into the Net. When
> they know I am on frequency that is. Of course they are running mostly
> KenYaeCom Rigs. My antenna is nothing special. 126 feet of Flat Top Dipole
> with Windows ( 450 ohm ) Line into the tuner. A real Cloud Burner (( NVIS ))
> at about 30 feet high. While I have your attention Rick, Thanks for
> answering my many questions that we would have ask, if others had not ask
> first. Do you wear a Solid Blue Shirt with a Big Yellow S on the front?? Do
> you get your Cape caught in Car Doors? Well. I believe that you do. Do they
> still have Phone Booths for the quick wardrobe changes in Germany? *
>
> *                                                 Thanks Rick 73 from
> Wade/KJ4WS*
>
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick at dj0ip.de> wrote:
>
>> Come to Europe Wade, you'll learn the difference (in favor of the
>> Corsairs).
>> Upward conversion struggles here.
>>
>> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
>> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Wade
>> Staggs
>> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 6:15 PM
>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Modern version of the Tec Tec Corsair - please
>> Ten Tec!
>>
>> *Good Morning,*
>> *                               While the Corsair and Corsair II are fine
>> radio's. If you really want to split hairs, my Paragon ( 585 ) has
>> everything they have, plus very accurate ( no drift at all ) frequency
>> control.  Don't believe me? Just find someone who owns one and sit
>> down in front of the rig. Now engage the 20 Db. pad and turn the RF
>> Gain back just a little bit. ( this is on the low bands ) It just
>> seems like a different world. And while I am posting. Why did the
>> Paragon and Paragon II have relatively short production runs? I know
>> about the Dreaded ... PLL Out of Lock ... problem with the 585 but
>> once fixed, they are such Great Radio's.
>> Mine was acquired while broken but a thorough re-work of the Major and
>> Minor Loop Boards has turned it into a real Keeper. Almost 6 years now
>> with no failures or issues of any kind. Although about 6 months back
>> we did replace all capacitors in the PA enclosure. So, in summary, has
>> anyone used a Paragon ( 585 ) lately ? ? ? And who wants to trade
>> their broken one for something else?  All input about the Paragons
>> receiver appreciated.........
>> The Transmitter is Awesome also.*
>>
>> *
>>           73 from Wade/KJ4WS*
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick at dj0ip.de>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> As nice as its audio was, the KWM-2 would not be very good with
>>> today's crowded bands.
>>> The famous "Collins mechanical filter" was not really very good by
>>> today's standards.
>>> A 4-pole crystal filter on 455 kHz is as good or better and of
>>> course you can buy 6 or 8 pole filters now.
>>> And the DSP filters on lower frequencies are even better, sharper,
>>> and have steeper skirts.
>>>
>>> As long as we're dreaming, I wish I had 1960's band conditions again!
>>>
>>> All things considered, it's hard to beat the Corsair with its
>>> combination of good audio and good crystal filters.
>>> Newer radios have better filters but worse audio.
>>>
>>> For my money, the best compromise is the Eagle.
>>>
>>> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
>>> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>>> Martin Sole
>>> (HS0ZED)
>>> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 11:37 AM
>>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
>>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Modern version of the Tec Tec Corsair - please
>>> Ten Tec!
>>>
>>> I've long liked the analogue radio sound. So far my all time fave,
>>> just for the audio, is a KWM2 with that big 6x4 speaker, something
>>> about that warm sound seems magical. Next up from my current radios
>>> would be my Omni V. Not sure how that might differ from the Corsair
>>> but whilst generally pleasant it's not in the KWM2 league. Then the
>>> Orion 565 and Elecraft K3, bit of a mixed bag these two as they are
>>> both very variable but I've not yet been able to recreate the
>>> analogue sound. I might need to experiment with amplifiers right at
>>> the point the signal becomes analogue. A god analogue audio amp with
>>> LTP input and complementary pair output in discrete silicon feeding
>>> a big speaker,
>> might sound very different.
>>> The TS940 had good audio too but for me about the same as the Omni V
>>>
>>> Martin, HS0ZED
>>>
>>>
>>> On 02/10/2014 12:03, Barry N1EU wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 5:12 PM, John Farler
>>>> <k4avx1 at windstream.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>>> I have a Corsair II with the DDS VFO, which works nicely.  I
>>>>> think it's a single conversion though.
>>>> Normally it converts to 9MHz, then to 6.3MHz, and then back to
>>>> 9MHz, unless you bypass the 6.3MHz PBT i.f. which can be done
>>>> fairly easily but you lose PBT and narrow filters and don't gain much.
>>>>
>>>> I agree on the CAT comment.  I always dreamed of adding a CAT port
>>>> to the DDS cpu firmware.
>>>>
>>>> 73, Barry N1EU
>>>> _______________________________________________
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