[1000mp] Key Clicks Solution?

[Bill Tippett]

Harry Yingst wrote:
 >I'm a Yaesu Owner Because of the POOR Service from TenTec.

         Harry, I was actually referring to Ten-Tec's responsiveness to 
customer
input rather than service.  Although I have had no reason to return my Orion
to Ten-Tec, I believe their service reputation is quite good.  Maybe Yaesu
has improved but I stopped using them years ago for post-warranty MP repairs
because of their very long backlogs.  I began using Paul Hansen W6XA who
provides excellent service, and he is fairly close (now in South Carolina).

         Here are a couple of examples of what I meant by customer 
responsiveness:

1.  For years I asked Yaesu to consider a firmware change to allow a change
which would have been very useful to contesters wanting to run on one
frequency with the Main VFO and tune to another using the Sub VFO.  With
the present setup, you can only do this by using RIT to tune the Main VFO
(while TX is locked) while using the Sub VFO to simultaneously tune
elsewhere.  I'm forced to use that TINY RIT knob while that BIG FAT Main
VFO is sitting unused.  It seemed like a fairly simple firmware change
could allow you to lock the Main VFO in TX, and then use the Main VFO
knob to tune for callers on your run frequency.  Of course I am not
aware that Yaesu has ever made ANY firmware changes, much less offering
them post-manufacture to the public (even for an update cost).

Ten-Tec has already responded to the above issue by adding the capability
to assigning their RIT knob to the 302R Remote Pod.  They also allow
assignment of RIT Zero to one of the push buttons on the Pod.  Now I can
lock my TX frequency, RIT with the big Pod knob (same one as on the Main
and Sub VFO's) and then zero it by hitting the F1 button on the Pod, all
while also using the big Sub VFO knob to tune to other frequencies.

2.  I am a low-band DX'er and for years I've missed the TS-930S's Pitch
control which I could set below 300 Hz.  For whatever reason, over the
years I've discovered that my ears can hear EXTREMELY weak signals
better at ~250 Hz than other frequencies.  Just to calibrate you, I
only need 4 DXCC countries on 80 to have them all so I concentrate mainly
on Topband these days.  One of the MP's selling points to me was that
it allowed setting Pitch to 300 Hz instead of the usual 400 Hz limit
found on many competitive radios.  I never even asked about changing it
because of the response I got to #1 above (i.e. nothing).  By contrast,
when Orion first came out it had a 300 Hz lower limit for Pitch, but they
implemented a change to lower it to 100 Hz literally within weeks of
my making the suggestion!  Now I can at last emulate the Pitch control I
had in my 20 year old TS-930S.

         I truly hope Yaesu and all manufacturers will become more responsive
to their customers.  Both Ten-Tec and Elecraft are leading the way in
this at the moment but it does not have to remain that way if all
manufacturers will simply begin listening and responding.  Let's all
hope the manufacturers will begin a race to see who listens best!

                                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV