Showing posts with label Ten-Tec. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ten-Tec. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Ten-Tec Message - Making America Great - One Radio at a Time


"Greetings Friends and Fellow Ten Tec Enthusiasts, 
I wanted to update you on what is happening in Sevierville. The Smokey
Mountains are literally fogged in with smoke in some places as Tennessee has
many wild fires burning. I was there two weeks ago and have never
experienced anything like it. Driving down Jellico Mountain on I75 it became
literally IFR conditions with near zero visibility from the smoke. As some
of you know Ten Tec has been occupying office condominium space behind the
site of the former factory where now a Wal-Mart Express is sitting. This
site is not appropriate for our needs. Starting last week, we are moving
out of this location into a more industrial friendly space. Unfortunately
this location is not zoned for commercial walk in traffic, so the days of
someone showing up at the factory door unfortunately have come to an end.
After an entire year of searching for any possible opportunity to move, this
is all we have been able to come up with. Commercial real estate is
completely out of control in Sevierville county because of the tourist
industry, and unless we have about a half million dollars to invest in the
factory location you can just forget about it. Ten Tec is "too small" to
receive any incentive, tax breaks or help from the local so called "Economic
Development" office. 
My opinion is that the State and local government of Tennessee is about as
economically unfriendly to a small business or start up business as is
possible. For example, in other counties in TN the standard is to create 10
new jobs to get any incentive. Sevier County arbitrarily requires 25 jobs.
By my calculations, 25 jobs would be around a million dollar pay roll if the
jobs averaged 15 dollars an hour to the employee with a 25% more overhead to
the employer. Any business having that kind of payroll better have about 10
million in gross receipts which would put it at DOUBLE the IRS definition of
a small business and QUADRUPLE the IRS definition of a micro business, so it
is obvious that the economic development offices do not have any mandate
whatsoever to support or help ANY small business reason the scale of an
individual person's finances. The fact that Ten Tec must have contributed
millions of tax dollars to the local economy over the last 50 years means
nothing. In many states, these economic development offices are partially
funded by the local Chamber of Commerce. It is my opinion these offices
function as intelligence gathering units to forewarn their members of any
possible competitor entering their area. If small business is truly the
economic growth engine of the United States it is apparent to me why we have
growth problems if we depend on these organizations to help us as
individuals. 
It seems ironic that the company named TEN TEC for Tennessee Technologies
can't get any assistance at all in Tennessee considering the state's
advertising of their "Tennessee Technology Initiative". 
If you are wondering why I wrote all this above it is to head off the
endless string of expert recommendation that I contact TVA and the local
economic development. I've done it and nobody is going to help Ten Tec in
the State of Tennessee. 
To get back on track, I stated above we are moving the remainder of this
month. You all know what that means. Service will be slow this month.
Robert decided not to have you send in radios this month so we wouldn't have
to move them. There is no cause for alarm or speculation. Service will
continue just as soon as we are moved. 
I hear and read all kinds of gossip and complaints and this and that about
our service, and none of it even close to accurate. We have serviced
hundreds of radios this year and have a bunch of happy customers. You will
see in the reflector some guy complaining or saying he is worried and then
five people saying everything was fine. I'm so sick of it. Really it is so
frustrating, especially when some of you call or write me up in Ohio about
your twenty year old radio. I can't help you. I'm not in Tennessee. The
people there run things and do their job essentially under Boyd's
supervision. I don't want to sound condescending or aloof or unreasonable or
unfriendly but please see this from my perspective. There are thousands of
you and one of me. I am responsible to run this company and pay the people
who work here whose families depend on me. I am an electrical engineer and
my time needs to be spent getting the new products developed and out the
door, not with a dial string for your old thing that I neither sold you or
received any benefit of selling to you. Can you directly call the president
of Icom? Does Eric answer the telephone when you call Elecraft? It is just
not possible for me to answer every email and every telephone call about
service issues. If you call me at Dishtronix and leave a message asking me
to call you about your Ten Tec I'm not returning your call. If I answer I'm
going to tell you we have put up the procedure that you email
service@tentec.com. Yes, I have a telephone at Ten Tec and no, you can't
have it. 
We are short staffed because we do not have sales volume at this time to
support a large overhead. This way, Robert can go through all of the email
and respond at one time in the morning, then spend the rest of the day
shipping radios and parts orders without being interrupted. He is there
three days a week, so you don't get answers on Monday or Friday. Sure, I
know some of you don't like it. There is no need to tell me about it. I
don't like it either, but until we start having a lot more cash flow that is
the way it is going to have to be. For those that complain about how long it
is taking, please understand this is a million dollar endeavor and money
like that just doesn't grow on trees, at least for me. Of course any of you
wealthy gentlemen looking for a good cause to donate some money to - I
would love to have the cash on hand to turn things around tomorrow. Until
then I'll be working 16 hours a day seven days a week with no days off and
scrimp and save and spend carefully and build up slowly just like every
other hard working guy has to do. 
What I am going to try to do next is set up sort of an email hotline for
critical cases with Bob if he will do it. I just thought of this and have to
talk to him about this. 
OK, enough about that. Let's get on to some better stuff. Many of you know
that under RFC and RKR Ten Tec quit doing their PCB assembly in house.
Those of you who have known me over the decades at Dishtronix know my shop
suffered heating issues that made it tough for the machinery to run in the
end of January to February arctic blasts. Well, I have a new and very nice
double insulated, heated and cooled free span metal building where I've
moved my PCB assembly operation and this is something I'm very excited
about. The building has a metal skin totally covering the inside with good
overhead fluorescent lighting and conduit encased electrical outlets every
12 feet around the perimeter. I have retired the older Contact Systems
placement machines in favor of newer MYDATA (Micronics Sweden) placement
machines. I installed the first MY9 machine this last June and have been
using it to build boards for the RX340 commercial orders we have been
fulfilling. Ten Tec did have a MY9 when they were building boards in house.
The MYDATA machines are the choice for high mix medium volume production,
especially when equipped with the Agilis quick change feeder system. Feeders
usually cost more than the machines in this business, and I've been growing
my collection all year. I am about a third of the way to having the
collection of feeders I would like to have. 
Earlier this month I got lucky and was able to purchase the bar code
software which will allow me to load and unload components from the machine
by just scanning with the barcode reader, and it is done off line. It will
help with inventory control and component management which is a real
nightmare considering Ten Tec has over 7000 different line items.
The MY9 machine has a capability to hold up to 96 different components and
has a single mounting head. As I write this, an air ride big rig is getting
closer and closer to Ohio, hauling a MY19 machine in from San Francisco
which can hold an additional 160 different components (total 256 8 mm tapes)
and has 8 mounting heads! Hopefully this machine will be brought online
successfully and not be damaged or in bad shape as I've bought it sight
unseen. I've also moved the 8 zone, lead free capable, pin chain conveyor
equipped Electrovert Bravo 8105 oven to the new building last weekend. This
gives us the capability to process double sided surface mount and the
ability to reliably process BGA chips. I've also purchased this summer but
not yet installed an X ray machine to do 100% inspection of the BGA reflow
soldering process. With the existing equipment (stencil printers, board
washers, etc.) this will give us what I believe is the most well equipped
and modern PCB manufacturing of any amateur radio manufacturer in North
America. I believe the other guys outsource their board assembly. It may
be the smart thing to do, but I personally prefer to buy and house my own
components in house and to have total control over my assembly process. I
find it requires more time to outsource and get constant bids for things
like this than to just own the equipment and do it myself. I think you get a
better product at less cost. 
Of course the best reason in my opinion for doing it all in house is I can
do as small of a production run as I want, IF I am willing to spend the time
to set up and do it. Hence the decision for the quick change capability of
the MYDATA system. 
So, all in all what this means is the Phoenix is rising. I am rebuilding Ten
Tec and preparing to do some serious manufacturing, which brings me to my
next point. 
Most of you know we have been bogged down and overwhelmed with the
commercial side of our business this last year since I officially assumed
the helm in January. With trying to replenish the hard to get / long lead
time / last time buy / obsolete parts, rebuild the PCB assembly
operations, moving, and so on we just haven't had the horsepower to build
any amateur transceivers. Well, the good news is we have caught up on our
commercial contracts. Be glad we did this. You know all the stuff I wrote
about above? The commercial contracts paid for that. Without this TEN TEC
would not exist right now. We are at a very important cross roads right now.
What do we do next? 
Some of you know we are developing new products. Those are still off on the
horizon. What I need to know is how many of you would purchase Eagles if
they were available? I'd like to do a run of 100 of them next. It is a
great radio. I like mine every bit as well as my Orion II. The DSP
function is superb. We have to talk a little bit about price. When the
Eagle was launched it was a $2100 radio with no accessories. You all know
the story of the blow out sales and the liquidation as the previous owners
sold everything that wasn't nailed down on their way out. Some of you got
fully loaded radios for $1299 or whatever. You know they didn't even cover
their assembly cost on that, right? Some of you got real bargains. Of
course only the last 35 radios or something were sold at that price but you
get the point. You will never see a price like that again. If I have to
sell an Eagle at that I will close and lock the doors and be done with it.
A strip model needs to sell at 1699 at least. The more you are willing to
pay for a radio the faster the new radios can come out. We want to build
radios and sell them so we can keep the production team in place so we can
meet the demand when the new radios come out. Everything we do tomorrow depends on how much you support us today. 
I'm certain some of you have heard that I and two partners acquired Alpha
and that I've been officially at the Helm since August. It is a separate
company from Dishtronix / TEN TEC. Of course I will be building the circuit
boards for those products as well. I'm after something business people call
economy of scale, essentially having enough product flow through the doors
to totally occupy the machines and infrastructure. I'll be making a post on
that reflector as well to update those customers also. 
By the way, we do have RX340s available to build on short notice now. Let me
close by wishing you all a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving holiday, one of my
favorites and of course the reason I see my dentist in November for my
pre-feast tune up. 
The Sevierville team and I appreciate your support for TenTec, where we
believe we are once again Making America Great - One Radio at a Time.
VY73 DE MIKE N8WFF"

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Ten-Tec

Keeping the Ten in Ten-Tec? Good news if true:
"Just on W5KUB.com at Dayton Hamvention Ten Tec will remain in Sevierville, TN. The Ten Tec plant to add on and start making radios again in Tennessee. He said tech support to remain in Tennessee all so. He said to hope have Tennessee up and running soon."

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Dishtronix - Ten-Tec

Matt at AmateurRadio.com wrote to Mike Dishop of Dishtronix, Ten Tec’s new owner. Click here for the full response, but a couple of key quotes are below:
"My vision is strictly long term. I have no plans to leave this business and will continue to operate Ten Tec as long as I am physically able to do so. I believe the Ten Tec transceivers to be some of the best transceivers available at any price and personally have been operating an Orion II until the first change of ownership." 
"Unfortunately I have had to make some tough decisions which were made for the long term health and viability of the company." 
"There has been some speculation if Ten Tec will move to Ohio. I do not plan to move anything at this time from the Sevierville – Knoxville area, but we may move within that area. 
If I could ask the ham community to do one thing, it would be to please be patient with us. Things like this take time."






Monday, January 4, 2016

More on Ten-Tec

Via the Ten-Tec Yahoo Group:

The following is from the new owner of TEN-TEC

----------------------------------------------------------------------

As some of you may be aware, Dishtronix has purchased the assets (but not the liabilities) of Ten Tec from RKR Designs. .  I had desired to keep this under wraps  until Ten Tec is reorganized, but there is too much speculation concerning the service department to continue without an announcement of some sort.

There is a myriad of things that must be accomplished before everything is formalized. Unfortunately these things must be done before we can continue with jobs that were sent in for repair to RKR. At this time I would ask people to be patient and please do not call or email me about your repair. When we get the phone numbers transferred successfully or new phone numbers we will post them. As we progress with the change, someone will contact you about your repair. When service resumes we will be contacting the repair customers.

As some of you may be aware I have been looking at all aspects of operation of the company and restructuring operations has been necessary. In reviewing the service department accounts, it is apparent that some customers use the service department to diagnose the radio and elect to not proceed with the repair. Unfortunately this open door policy costs the company one hour of billable time to receive, unpack, open, diagnose, provide an estimate and repack a radio for return to the customer.

Effective immediately, all radios including those sent in to RKR, will incur  a 140.00 minimum charge to look at a radio, even if it is not repaired.  Service time is 125 per hour with the average repair requiring from one to two hours. This means you can expect to pay at least 265.00 plus parts and return shipping for any repair.

For customers who sent radios in to RKR which were not repaired, who object to these terms, we will return your unit to you at your expense.

A second problem in the service department is with the time technicians spend on the telephone that quite often ends up having nothing to do with the Ten Tec product but is some other station deficiency.  The problem here is Ten Tec is not compensated for that time, yet Ten Tec pays wages to the technician. When the service department resumes operation, Ten Tec will charge the customer for any telephone call or email that consumes more than five minutes of technician time.  That time will be billed in quarter hour increments at the prevailing service rate.

I am fully committed to bring Ten Tec back to a sustainable state. This will take some time. Please give us time to finalize these plans since there are so many business related issues to get through. We will definitely need to rely on you as customers to help continue the Ten Tec tradition of innovative product and cutting edge technology.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Given the content of the new owners announcement above, I (John Henry) also request that if you can wait a while for your product to get serviced in the Ten Tec service department, please let them alone until they get back with you as he described above. If you absolutely have to have your unit back now, then the service@... email address is still working, and will continue to work. The phones are in transition, so I doubt you will be able to call and get an answer for a while. once phones are set up, the numbers will be announced. Once the website is ready, everything will be on it. Remember, if going to tentec.com takes you to rkrdesignsllc.com, then the website transition has not completed yet.

Given the nature of this announcement, and it will almost positively bring out more questions, again, please be patient. The new owner is working through a lot of business issues, and I myself work a full time day job and consult into the evening, so, answers may be few and far between. Though this announcement is going out to a lot of venues, I will attempt to monitor 
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ten_tec_radio_net/conversations/messages


73, KI4JPL
John Henry

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Ten-Tec: The Saga Continues

Ten-Tec has been sold again. Click the link, but some highlights from John Henry (KI4JPL) below:
"I had a discussion with the new owner last night, and I wanted to relay
some information. 
He is now officially the new owner of TEN-TEC.

He is planning the rigs and amplifiers and other accessory products to
engineer and to manufacture for the coming year to cover the purchase and
expenses for the year, working on the details of the various plans for
service, sales, and marketing, etc."
 Plans...
"Planning on having the OMNI-VII back in production in 1st quarter 2016,hoping to ship in 2nd quarter 2016. 
Dayton, He will be there, going to try to get the same TEN-TEC booth/booths
as possible. Showcasing the existing products, and possibly something new
based on the existing products, time will tell. 
He did say that he will either bring back the Orion II or have an Orion
III. Time frame is tbd. could be as early as end of 2016 or Dayton 2017???? 
There might be improvements/changes to certain rigs, e.g. maybe there will
be an OMNI-VII+ maybe an OMNI-VIII in a year??? 
The Eagle will go back into production some time after the 1st OMNI-VII run. 
Prices will return to the original pre liquidation sale prices when the new
website is up so that each will be at a point that will make enough profit
to make the company viable. Other features will get added where possible."
And ouch...!
"TEN-TEC was actually shipping a $200 bill with every one of a specific
model that it sold this last year."
Raising capital...
"There might be a need in the future to try to raise some
more capital if certain plans come to fruition with commercial and fema
customers, if those work out, may need to raise some cash to buy the parts,
so there might be a gofundme funding campaign set up, where amateur
customers can help donate to purchase the parts, and then part of or all of
or x times the amount of the donation is taken off of their next order of a
TEN-TEC product > a certain dollar amount."
"To do this first class, we need a 200K capital infusion for a new factory building and
some new equipment to replace what was liquidated if anyone cares to step
up and accelerate our success. 400K would give us the facility, equipment
and capitol to put everything back in production to a stocking basis and
allow us to complete the Orion III. If 400 people will give us 1K each, we
will commit to the Orion III of your dreams in 18-24 months and give you 2K
off the target price of 5K as well as engrave your name and call on a
plaque on the new building that says you helped build it and save TEN TEC."
Via Sparky's

Friday, October 9, 2015

Vibroplex and Inrad

With the uncertain long term future of Ten-Tec, I'm happy to see more ham radio businesses coming to East Tennessee - and Knoxville in particular.

From the Vibroplex Facebook page:
"October 6, 2015 – Vibroplex LLC of Knoxville, TN announces the acquisition of International Radio Corporation of Aptos, CA. The sale was finalized on September 23. International Radio, commonly referred to as “Inrad”, is the leading manufacturer of aftermarket and OEM crystal filters for Amateur Radio transceivers and receivers with some 250 different models currently available for present day equipment and obsolete gear dating as far back as the 1950's. Inrad is presently the OEM roofing filter supplier for the popular Elecraft K3/K3S series of HF transceivers. The last day of operations in California was September 22. Inrad is now up and running at the Vibroplex offices in Tennessee but the backlog of present orders on hand will take several more days to fill. The former and new owners say thank you to the Amateur Radio community for more than 40 years of Inrad business. Inquiries about Inrad can be directed to the main Vibroplex email address at vibroplex@vibroplex.com or sales@inrad.net"
Previously, Vibroplex acquires Bencher.

Also, Vibroplex.com.

Monday, April 6, 2015

More Changes for Ten-Tec

Copied from the Ten-Tec home page:

Press Release

(April 2, 2015) RKR Designs, LLC of Longmont Colorado has announced that they have acquired the assets of Alpha Amplifier and TEN-TEC brands from RF Concepts. RKR plans to expand the product line, while continuing to service their customers that have enjoyed their products over the years.
The principals of RKR Designs are Richard Gall, Ken Long and Rich Danielson (Gall and Danielson of QSC Systems, Longmont, Colorado have been a successful contract manufacturer, for over 20 years). Ken Long, N0QO has over 20 years in the electronics and amateur radio industry. Long will be President and CEO of the new company. QSC has been building Alpha amplifiers for over 5 years. They have also been building boards for TEN-TEC since their purchase by RF Concepts last year. Mr. Long said “QSC has always been a fantastic contract manufacturer, and has the expertise and knowledge that will allow us to bring down costs, while increasing quality and reducing manufacturing times.”
When asked for comment, Michael Seedman, AA6DY said “I can’t think of a more capable group of people to take over the 45 year Alpha Amplifier/TEN-TEC legacy. Ken Long has been involved with the industry for years, and has a great feeling for products and operations. He has the manufacturing and engineering resources available to deliver quality products that our customers demand”. Mr. Seedman went on to say “Alpha and TEN-TEC have always had a warm spot in my heart, and I am thrilled that RKR Designs will be able to continue the operations of the business. I wish them the best”.
Ken, Richard and Rich have been working very close over the past several years and feel that this new relationship will benefit the company and customers moving forward. This closer relationship to the contract manufacturer will allow a more consistent process and delivery of quality products along with significant cost benefits.
RKR Designs LLC is privately held, and terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Ten-Tec Changes

They've got a new home and a new website:
"Change is in the air. As you can see, we have a new, updated website. We have also made staffing changes recently that were necessary to align our strengths with the talents in Colorado and TN. As always we will continue to design, service and support our high performance, Made in the USA products. The changes will allow us to continue to give world class support on both transceivers and receivers in Tennessee and amplifiers in Colorado. 
We are finally caught up filling our back orders from our extremely successful summer sale. We currently have inventory on most radios and amplifiers, and are excited to be able to ship in a timely manner. 
73,
Ken Long N0QO
President and CEO
RF Concepts"

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Ten-Tec Patriot: August

Per this comment, the Ten-Tec 507 Patriot will be out in August.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Ten-Tec Patriot: Open-source SSB/CW/Digital Transceiver

This has been out for a bit, but I wanted to get it on my list of radios to watch... the Ten-Tec Patriot 507. I don't see it listed on the Ten-Tec site yet. There is a Yahoo Group for the Patriot 507.

Most of the information is from the QRPer here. It differs from the Rebel 506 in that it will do SSB and digital modes. The Patriot will work 20 and 40 meters.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Ten-Tec and Alpha Amplifiers Merge - RF Concepts

Alpha Amplifiers and TEN-TEC Merge Under RF Concepts Banner:
LONGMONT, Colo.- May 9, 2014 - Announcing today the merger of Longmont, Colorado -based RF Concepts LLC / Alpha Amplifiers and Sevierville, Tenn.-based TEN-TEC Inc., RF Concepts Chairman Michael Seedman, AA6DY, declared the union the perfect combination of amateur radio brands. The merger creates a multi-million-dollar company with products that span QRP transceivers to full-legal-limit amplifiers and establishes an organization with the size and scale to continue to innovate into the next decade and beyond.
... 
About RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers
RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers manufactures high-end linear amplifiers for ham radio enthusiasts. Based in Longmont, Colo., the company is known worldwide for its quality amplifiers. Alpha Amplifiers have been continuously manufactured in the United States since the early 1970s.

About TEN-TEC
TEN-TEC Inc. was founded in 1968 to provide beautifully engineered, well-crafted, well-supported and high-performing products to the amateur radio market. For 46 years the Sevierville, Tenn.-based company has passionately designed, crafted and tested premium products which have earned the company a solid reputation and loyal brand followers throughout the world.

Ten-Tec
RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Ten-Tec Moving and No 2014 Hamfest


Dear Ten-Tec customers and friends, 
Hamfest at Ten-Tec has been cancelled this year due to our plans to relocate in early fall.  
After enjoying 46 years in our headquarters on Dolly Parton Parkway, we are actively seeking a new location in Sevierville that will offer more modern and energy-efficient facilities, a new showroom, and a much-needed upgrade in working environment for staff. 
Our current facility and property are already under contract, and, as a result, they will not be available for our annual Hamfest open house and flea market. And, chances are, in September we’ll be neck-high in boxes and crates preparing for our move.  
So, in lieu of our weekend Hamfest, we’re planning to celebrate the entire month of September with a moving sale, offering not-to-be-beat discounts and incomparable specials on Tentec.com. 
Stay tuned for more details about the moving sale. And, in the meantime,  come see what’s new at Ten-Tec at Booths 548-550 at Dayton Hamvention, May 16-18. 
Jim Wharton, NO4APresident

Friday, January 24, 2014

Ten-Tec

Ten-Tec, here in my backyard, is having a change of leadership.  It sounds like they are staying committed to ham radio for now. I've heard some speculate that might not always be the case.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Ten-Tec 506 Rebel

A sneak peak of the new Ten-Tec Model 506 Rebel - an open-source CW QRP transceiver for 20 or 40 meters at the qrper.com:
"The TEN-TEC Model 506 Rebel is an open-source (meaning, anybody can program it), factory-built QRP transceiver based on a Chip Kit Uno 32 Arduino-compatible prototyping platform, which serves as the main processing unit that holds the Rebel’s program. (For those of you not familiar with the Arduino series, check out this article.) 
And I have to admit, I love the concept: TEN-TEC delivers a factory-built, uber-simple transceiver, with just enough programming to reliably get you on the air with a basic radio (see details below). Users then have full access to develop and program the Rebel via an open-source platform, themselves. No need to wait on firmware revisions; firmware, in a sense, will be crowd-sourced! That’s to say, it uses online collaboration–a great idea."
No surprise - it has a Yahoo Group.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ten-Tec Holiday Specials

And via the QRPer, Ten-Tec is having some specials:
"Ten-Tec is discounting their 1380 and 1330 QRP kits for the holiday season. They’ve also extended their discount on the R4030 QRP tranceiver (details [here])."

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Not a Dual Band Chinese Mobile Part 2

The Ten-Tec 539 QRP Transceiver gets a little closer to shipping. An update from Ten-Tec via the QRPer:
"We will have a fully functional 539 on display at Dayton. Pre-orders at Dayton? I don’t think I will be confident enough on a real ship date yet to be able to take orders at Dayton. I don’t want to take orders at Dayton, promise a ship date, and then have it delayed for parts reasons."

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ten-Tec 539 QRP Transceiver: Release Date

According to this poster, the Ten-Tec 539 is scheduled to be released at the Dayton Hamfest (May 18, 2012).

Ten-Tec Go-Bag

Ten-Tec is jumping on the Go-Bag bandwagon with a 40/30 Meter QRP Go Pack. It includes:
"R2327 Custom built, high performance portable multiband wire antenna which includes light weight coax,BNC connector, center balun, tie downs, plus Dacron rope.
R4030 two band QRP CW Transceiver. Light weight, trail friendly dual band transceiver built by YouKits and sold exclusively in the US by TEN-TEC. Covers 40 and 20 meter bands. Receives SSB and CW. Transmits CW only. No filters to buy. Fully assembled transceiver (not a kit).
R9920 Rugged Shoulder Bag with adjustable shoulder sling strap that contains a tactical non-slip shoulder pad. Includes a mesh compartment for your water bottle. Rapid accessibility for all of your QRP equipment. Loads of room for your antenna, rig, battery, key paddle, and much more. Water resistant storm collar can be deployed by pulling a cordlock draw string."
The web page says just add your favorite key and you are ready go. That and a brain transplant with a donor that knows CW and I would be all set!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

FG-01 Antenna Analyzer

I like to see TEN-TEC getting into different stuff. A little diversity may be important to their long term existence in the ham radio business.
"TEN-TEC is proud to announce that we are the exclusive distributor in the US for YouKits brand products.
The first product we are introducing from YouKits is the FG-01 a 1 to 60 MHZ Antenna Analyzer. This is not a kit but a fully assembled unit ready for use. The FG-01 utilizes the latest in SMT technology to provide a compact unit with lots of value."



And when did TEN-TEC do a makeover on their website? It looks good. I've mentioned that I like sellers that have an RSS feed, so I am glad to see that TEN-TEC has one.