Hope it isn't bad etiquette to send this to two email lists
I've thought that ExpertAmps and Elecraft should consider some type of working agreement. I have a K3 and 2K-FA that play very well together .very nice for QSK, though I did buy the amp with the after market vacuum relay), pretty similar to the way the K3 and KPA500 do. A long time ago Elecraft protopyed a single tube KPA-1500 but I think that project died. Frosty K5LBU ..the American Distributor for SPE puts together a lodge safari type operation in Africa every year (last year it was 3D2A, this year I think it will be 7P7 or 7Q7) and they pair K3's and 1K-FAs and 2K-FAs. 73 Steve KL7SB From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 8:46 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: [cwops] merger of Alpha and Ten Tec Hmmmmm.....if one had to, this merger would be hard to judge. IMO, since the demise of Al Kahn, Ten Tec has been sliding downhill. Since Al's departure, Ten Tec really has not produced anything new or innovative. I still have three Omni 6+ rigs and one of the Corsair II, both of which I think have excellent receivers. I owned a couple of their amplifiers and they were both good and reliable. I now own an Alpha 9500 which is proving to be a real workhorse amp. I am fortunate since switching from the Alpha 8510, which was troublesome, to the 9500 , to not really have to utilize their tech support again. Ten Tec's tech support was what I would call less than stellar but you eventually could get some help from them. My impression, especially now with Elecraft available, Ten Tec was slowly sliding down the hill. With Alpha showing very slow design capability, in terms of their automatic tuner, they are not very attractive either. Both companies probably could be excellent for the hobby IF they could acquire some management who were capable of looking forward. I just hope we don't lose either one of them! 73, Tom - W4BQF -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 12:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [cwops] merger of Alpha and Ten Tec I'm still on the fence about this one. I have owned both companies' products. I had a Ten-Tec OMNI D, two Centurions, and a Titan. I still own an Alpha 87A. In the early 1980s, when I bought the Ten-Tec OMNI D I thought it was a very good transceiver. With regard to my amplifiers, though, the Titan and one of the Centurions both developed power transformer shorts and it was expensive to fix them. I have had very good service, so far, from my Alpha 87A. But...I'm not so sure the 9500 is an improvement over the 87A, or so I've heard. The 87A uses pin diodes and is relatively quiet. The 9500 uses relays and is relatively noisy. Both use vacuum tubes. >From my perspective (opinion, not necessarily fact), Elecraft is the most innovative ham company; and SPE has succeeded in designing the 2K-FA solid-state amplifier that has nearly a 5 out of 5 eham rating. In my perfect ham world, Elecraft would make a 1.5 KW solid-state KPA-500-like amplifier. My station would become a K3/P3 and 1.5 KW all Elecraft station (actually a pair in SO2R). I'm not sure Elecraft will make that 1.5 KW amplifier. So, it's a question about whether a pair of K-lines in SO2R would be sufficient for me. There is also the possibility that I would get a 2K-FA (W9KNI loves his). So, getting back to the merger, I'm sure it makes economic sense to merge...but I'm not so sure I would consider it a marriage of two companies who have been and continue to be state-of-the-art ham product makers. You may see it differently, of course, and that's what makes things interesting. 73, Rob K6RB PS: See you in Dayton ! ; ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
