[CW] What is best CW transceiver??

[Ken Brown]

Hi John,

I use a Ten-Tec Omni VI. It is the best rig I have owned so far. I have 
not owned a bunch of top of the line rigs to compare it to though, so 
perhaps I am not as highly qualified to answer this question as some 
are. The reason I got the Omni is that I had heard about the great QSK 
of Ten-Tec rigs, and the performance numbers for the receiver were up 
there near the top of the list. A lot of people like the more "computer 
like" rigs, such as the Orion, Orion II and Omni VII, and a lot of 
people complain about them too. I want my radio operating experience not 
to be very similar to computer operation, so I am not very interested in 
the "more digital" type rigs. I doubt that you could get a better CW rig 
for the money, than by buying a excellent condition used Ten-Tec rig of 
the Omni VI or earlier variety. In addition to the excellent CW 
performance, they are serviceable. When you get inside of an Omni VI or 
Paragon (the only Ten-Tec rigs I have experience with) it is more like 
opening up a piece of electronics test lab gear than opening up a piece 
of consumer electronics. I dread opening up my Kenwood TS-440. Of course 
I would rather not have to open up any of my gear, yet it is nice to 
know that I'll be able to keep the Omni VI going if I have to work on it.

DE N6KB
>  the best CW transceiver for serious CW work.