[TenTec] din connector, etc.

[Lee WA3FIY]

I suspect that the 70mS Tx to Rx turnaround for the Eagle is either a misprint or a radio out 
of spec.   I looked at six fairly recent Ten-Tec radios yesterday and the average Tx > Rx time 
is 26mS ( leaving the Eagle out of the calculation).  The latest three Elecraft radios are 34mS 
turnaround.   So.....that 70mS is WAY out of character for a good QSK radio and raises some 
doubts about it's accuracy in representing the Eagle fleet.  Especially given the VERY 
positive comments from CW operators here about the quality of Eagle QSK.  BTW, Ten-Tec 
specs the Eagle Tx > Rx recovery time at < 20mS which is quite in line with the others I 
examined.

This is a problem with published specs.  Manufacturers and reviewers alike sometimes make  
mistakes in which the published specs may cast a shadow over the radio being evaluated 
and can even trash sales in some cases.  We need to be careful about putting too much 
credibility into such numbers unless verified over a reasonable size sample by more than one 
testing lab.

Or...in the case of Ten-Tec if we are serious about buying a certain radio but have doubts 
about some such test result, order the radio and try it out for thirty days.  If it really is as bad 
as was reported and if that makes it undesirable for our use, return it.

Sidenote:

When the Pegasus first shipped there were a lot of very negative comments on the list about 
it.  After reading a bunch of those I thought WOW...Ten-Tec really dropped the ball on this 
one!  But, following my own advise I ordered one to see for myself.  Long story short...I kept 
the Pegasus and added four more to the fleet here.  As I write this I am looking at two of 
them on my desk as primary radios with a spare on hand (never needed) and two for my 
grand daughters.  I know they are not contest radios..I know that.  I have an Orion for that 
purpose if needed.   But for every day use I find the Pegasus with N4PY control software a 
real delight.   Look at the success of Jupiter.  A Pegasus with a front panel and a great seller 
for Ten-Tec.  Well....I would be less well off today if I had paid attention to the grumbling and 
moaning about the Pegasus way back then.

73 all, enjoyed this discussion.

-Lee-

WA3FIY


On 25 Sep 2014 at 12:12, Jim Brown wrote:

SNIP.......
> 
> Looking at ARRL test reports for the Eagle and the TS590S -- the "TX
> to RX turnaround time" for the Eagle is 70 msec" and 20 msec for the
> 590. So, as Rick noted, at high keying speeds we're not going to hear
> between the dits, even barefoot. For both rigs, there's no shortening
> of the dits in full QSK at 60 wpm, and if the key signal to the power
> amp is coincident with the keying signal to the rig, an amp with a
> vacuum relay or diode switching should reproduce the keying waveforms,
> while an amp with open frame relays is likely to hot switch (unless
> there's a speedup circuit).
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
>