[Elecraft] OT--Ten-Tec Eagle

[w7aqk at cox.net]

Hi all,

I downloaded the manual for the new Eagle.  I've always been a Ten-Tec 
fan, but the fact that I sold my Orion II says something about what I 
think of the way they have been designing stuff for a while now.

Anyway, I got only about 3 pages into the manual, and I knew I would 
probably hate the radio.  If you just look at how you adjust power you 
will see one of my biggest beefs with Ten-Tec design.  It's the old 
"multi-pot" thing (like on the Orion) all over again.  I guess Ten-Tec 
wasn't impressed with anything I ever said critically about their 
process.  To change power, you have to push a function key, then hit 
tune, then adjust power with a control.  Compare that to the the K3 or 
K2, which is one control, and right on the front panel.  I haven't even 
gotten to how you adjust CW keyer speed, but I bet it's the same 
laborious process.

It's one thing to want to make a radio simple, with only a few controls, 
but burying adjustments in multi-step processes like this are not making 
a radio simple in my view!

The new Eagle trumps the K2 in only a couple of instances, based on my 
cursory review--it is 100 watts without an added accessory, and it 
covers 6 meters out of the box.  I won't even go into how the K2 trumps 
the Eagle.

A K3 would be clearly superior, and for only a small price difference to 
add the 100 watt amp and a couple of filters.  Well, maybe not a really 
small difference, but small enough, considering what you get.

We'll have to actually see and hear the Eagle in action to really be 
able to evaluate it, but I already see lots of negatives.  Ten-Tec has 
always been a good company, and I hope they have success with this 
radio--I don't want them going away!  Somewhere in that brain trust 
there has to be a product that will get me excited again.

I also hope Eric isn't too quick to squash this thread.  I think it is a 
good thing to draw comparisons to different radios.  Ten-Tec may be 
focusing more on the new Kenwood, as someone suggested, but I think 
Elecraft has a big bullseye on it's forhead, and so far, everyone is 
using a bow with a 15 pound pull when something much, much bigger is 
required.

Dave W7AQK