Duane and all, I purchased a Ten-Tec Triton IV new back in the mid '70s and used it until 2000 as my only HF rig. The only problem I had with it was with the contacts of the reed relay for transmit/receive getting dirty because of lack of current, and that was fixed with a company-developed modification that I installed. It was stable, the final amp was rugged, the AGC worked great, and the QSK was unparalleled at the time. It was great for both CW and SSB. I'd probably still be using it if it had covered the WARC bands, but it predated them.
73, Bob AD3K -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Duane Calvin Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 9:59 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Drakelist] Ten-Tec and Drake Compared Huh. Of six different pieces of TT equipment, only one ever needed repair. That was due to an early life (warranty) fail of a bias transistor, and I did the service with super help from TT guys. Two of the units were HF amps and neither of them had any trouble (other than a 3-500Z grid that fell into a cathode after years of service, much of it in RTTY mode.) Since the majority of folks who post on forums tend to be those with a gripe, I thought I'd post my experience which is the opposite. By contrast, I've sent a VHF rig back to Yaesu three times without a resolution of a problem, and finally gave up. Also had problems with an ICOM IC-765 that was my first "big rig". So, I find the negative criticism of TT to be misplaced, in my experience.... 73, Duane Duane Calvin, AC5AA Austin, Texas www.ac5aa.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Garey Barrell Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 10:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Drakelist] Ten-Tec and Drake Compared roncasa wrote: > Garey Barrell wrote: >> >> >> One thing about Ten-Tec gear. The 'word' in the Ham community was that, 'The good news is that >> Ten-Tec has an outstanding service department, with friendly, helpful techs readily available. >> They very often will ship a replacement board on the promise that you would send back the >> defective one.' 'The bad news is, you are almost certainly going to NEED that outstanding >> service department!' >> > > Let's be fair .... > the same is true for other manufacturers of ham radio products regarding reliability .... > > The difference here is that you could almost repair TT radio at home. > You could be back on the air in no time. > On the other hand, you may have to send other radio brands for service and wait weeks. > Ron - Perhaps. All I can say is that in 50 years of using Drake equipment, only twice did I need to purchase a unique part from Drake to repair a radio. Other minor repairs were required over the years, but all were accomplished with locally available resistors and/or capacitors, with an occasional diode or transistor thrown in. I ran three R-4A/B setups for almost three years, 24/7 in autostart RTTY service with only one 'failure', and open filament in a 12BY7. Yes, a few PA tubes had to be replaced as the transmitters were run at full power, with keydown periods of up to 30 minutes. By contrast, it seemed like everyone I knew who had Ten-Tec equipment was often praising their 'excellent service support'. :-) 73, Garey - K4OAH Glen Allen, VA Drake 2-B, 2-C/2-NT, 4-A, 4-B, C-Line and TR-4/C Service Supplement CDs <www.k4oah.com> _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
