[TenTec] New TT rigs...thoughts

[lstoskopf at cox.net]

Not to throw cold water on expecting new rigs from TT, but:

I loved my Orion...until it took a lightning hit.  The TT guys fixed it with the warning that lightning rigs usually failed later.  It did and they couldn't fix it.  So back to using the Omni VII.  Works great, but miss the 2nd  knob.

So for a new O3.  The Orion had a complex oscillator system for low noise.  Certainly technology has advanced enough to match that in a simpler manner....I doubt that TT will just redo the old system.  Rockwell had closed the mechanical filter business.  With the industry change over to SDR I'm betting that either the XTAL filter guys are going or maybe looking for more work...?

I think that just doing yet another SDR rig might be getting into the commodity race.  Look at what Flex is doing...a new rig virtually every Hamvention.  They are selling applications almost more than rigs.  And at Military prices.

And everybody has an amplifier for sale.  There was a guy in one of the booths showing a prototype 2 KW rig using a pair of the MRI amplifiers.  Waiting for FCC approval.  Question was whether he needed to put a pad in to require 100 watt drive or could use lower (to keep the CB guys out!).  No antenna tuner.  We both agreed that autotune in a fixed station linear is a bit of a waste unless you have a crummy antenna.

Wouldn't want to be tackling this market, but if TT comes out with an O3, I'm in just to help out.

Wishing TT good luck,  N0UU