[TenTec] Re: Al Gavenas' position on Front-End atenuation

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:27:15 -0400

Oh My Dear Right Rev. Jones,
Oh how thou doest speak such truths however be ye forewarned my dear
brother,
one must tread everso softly amongst this elite group so as not to bruise
the
egos of the learned few.
Preach on brother!.....and pass the plate.
Tony, W4FOA

PS: On my OMNI VI+, I run my RF Gain at 4 o'clock and my AF gain at 1
o'clock
if anyone cares.

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Donald Jones
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 1:24 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Re: Al Gavenas' position on Front-End atenuation

I have got to wonder what the poor guy now thinks who humbly asked about
a rig for a newbie?

A few honest, well meaning responses from Pegasus and Jupiter owners
resulted in a deluge of pedantry regarding RF gain controls that don't
do anything, SWR fetishes, and a tirade from a TenTec representative
impatiently explaining that buying one of these radios required a new
antenna system, a stash of ferrite cores and a artificial ground.

(As an owner of a Jupiter for over a year, I can state that the TenTec
rep is absolutely correct. The thing that puzzles me is that the
advertisement for the Jupiter does not mention ANY of these as
requirements for operating this rig. I was (and am) stupid enough to
think that since my clunky old TS440S worked just fine in my local
environment, a shiny new Jupiter would certainly do as well or better.
Being a ham radio OPERATOR and not a technician, I was not bright enough
to be prepared for this new age of transceivers that can not tolerate
the presence of their own RF output.)

Nevertheless, I was reasonably well pleased with the performance of my
Jupiter until I learned herein that my perceived success with decreasing
the RF gain to prevent front end overload during CW contests and DX
pileups was nothing more than a figment of my uninformed imagination.
Drat, I hate going back to all those thumps and bumps now  that I have
been "informed".

If any of the "messengers" think that they are being shot at, I would
like to note that I quit the contest.com Tentec mailing list over a year
ago when it became so saturated with bloated super egos that no useful
information could make its way through the smoke. I was delighted to
find this forum which was a FRIENDLY place where ordinary hams (who do
not sign their e-mails as "Professional Engineer" or insist on blowing
their horns about how long they have been on the air) could ask
questions about simple (and useful) things, such as "what is a suitable
TenTec rig for a new operator", and not have to dig through days and
days of overblown and useless hot air from a small clutch of 'experts'.
Only within the past week or so,  this friendly and helpful mailing list
has suddenly become a hotbed of electronic 'superstars' and insiders,
arrogantly deriding us ordinary dolts who happily use our RF gain
controls, dare to take SWR as a reasonable indication of whether we have
cut our dipoles correctly, foolishly refer to our "antenna tuning units"
(the name on the front panel), have no idea who Al Gavenas is (and don't
care), and engage in other radio follies (such as getting on the air and
operating) which are too contemptible to mention.

Perhaps if you are getting "shot at", it is because you have gone to
great lengths to make yourself a target. Perhaps you might find yourself
more appreciated (or at least better tolerated) back on the contest.com
forum.

- Don Jones N4TN

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