[Elecraft] FW: [cwops] merger of Alpha and Ten Tec

[Stephen Bloom]

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: cwops at yahoogroups.com [mailto:cwops at yahoogroups.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 8:46 AM
To: k6rb at baymoon.com
Cc: cwops at yahoogroups.com
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: cwops at yahoogroups.com [mailto:cwops at yahoogroups.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 12:11 PM
To: cwops at yahoogroups.com
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

 ! ;