[TenTec] Working

[Don Jones]

Dave - Most of the activity seems to be over on the contesting.com TenTec
Reflector - far too much of it to suit me, so I stick to this one.

Jan, I have had a Jupiter for about 6 weeks and I could not be more pleased. I
have used it on CW, RTTY and BPSK, but mostly on CW. I have used it for CW
ragchewing, DX chasing and contests and find it to be well worth the money. It
is not an Omni nor an Orion, but it is far from that price range.The reports on
signal quality and keying are excellent. The display (like the entire rig) is
not going to win any beauty contests, but it is extremely useable. I will say
that I can not determine what use to make of the band scope - it creates a
display when you enable it and does not refresh it until you tap the "Sweep"
button again. Maybe it would be of some value on SSB (I don't even have a mike).
I have no idea what to do with it, so I leave it off.

The receive filters are great. That does not mean that it is not subject to
front end overload. I have learned to take to heart the advice that I have
repeatedly ignored for the past 48 years - operate with the AF gain turned up
and use the RF gainly sparingly. When I have done this, in the ARRL DX contest
and the recent TI9, PW0 and S07 pileups, the thumping goes away and, with the
bandwidth at 300 hz, there is no one there but the DX (and the cops).

The menu, controls and multiple-use control knob all take just a little bit of
getting used to but I have found nothing to complain about regarding them. Well,
actually I have one complaint - you change bands by repeatedly hitting the
"Band" button. If you are a jerky guy like me, heading from 10 meters to 40
meters (for example), you may overshoot - in which case you have to go all the
way around again. A minor nuisance - maybe I'll learn to slow down a little!

On the other reflector there were a flurry of claims (mostly repititions from
the same couple of folks) of some sort of bassy sounding growl to the note on
the Jupiter and Pegasus rigs. I have yet to hear this on any station using
either of these two rigs on the air. I have asked people who I trust to listen
very closely to my note and have not received a negative report of any kind. I
don't know if this problem, as reported, might have been caused by the power
supply that was being used - I am using the Ten Tec 963.

That is about all that I can tell you. A lab report this is not, but I am an
active DXer, contester and a CW ragchewer with a reasonably critical ear (but
not a nit-picker!). I looked long and hard within my price range before I bought
the Jupiter. I was swung by superior TenTec keying and their excellent support
and sevice reputation.  I am glad that I bought the rig and I really do enjoy
using it. I am sure that I would be even happier if I had an Omni 6+ or an
Orion, but they are way out of my league. For those of us who are "doomed" to
operate with a less than the top of the line transceiver, my opinion is that the
Jupiter is an excellent choice.

I hope that this is of some use to you. 73 - Don N4TN

Jan wrote:

> Dave - I think everyone is waiting for news of the new Ten Tec rig (Orion?).
> I wouldn't mind hearing more about the Jupiter. That display HAS to look
> better than it does in the ads, but how is it at filtering, etc.?
> 73 Jan N0AAA (I like your call, by the way! HI)
>
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