Hi All
I will do this report in two sections, an 17 day report of the Argonaut V
and to continue the thread started by Paul VE1DY and Jeff with the
comparison with the K2. I do not own the K2 so I can not add anything to
that part of the thread. I have owned for the last three years the Pegasus.
Yesterday I had the chance to compare the Argonaut V to the Jupiter at a
friends home and again I will not use any of yesterdays fun in this. The
bands yesterday just were not busy enough to do a good comparison between
the Jupiter and my Argonaut V.
For the last 17 days I have used and really enjoyed the Argonaut V. It
works well and has not gave me one thing to complain about. All of my fear
that the lack of adjustable RF Gain was unfounded. The RFGain seems, at
least to me, to be just right, not to much to bring up the noise and not to
little to make weak station hard to copy. I have used the Attenuator a few
time and if less RF Gain was needed and the attenuator did the job.
My second fear was the lack of an adjustable AGC. Again my fear was and was
unfounded. The AGC seems to be in the FAST Mode for CW and the Medium Mode
for SSB. This AGC system MUST be DSP Controled. This is the best AGC
action in any of my old Ten-Tec radio's and I go back to the Triton Four
Digital to the Omni VI Plus and Pegasus, Argo 556 and of course my Omi C. I
still have the Omni C but I did sell the Omni VI Plus a month or so ago.
There is NO Pumping or Thuds. The one thing I do not like about my Omni C
is the popping the AGC presents my headphones at times, THIS IS NOT PRESENT
IN THE ARGONAUT V.
The QSK is fast and works at the speed I use most of the time, around 22 to
25 wpm. The QSK is up to and maybe a little above the anything Ten-Tec has
gave us in the past.
The DSP Filters are better then in my Pegasus. I listened last weekend for
hours to the CWSS. I could not find one case where the DSP Filters did not
work. I was using the contest a test ground. I found a lot of 30 to 40 dB
over 9 signals and then a S-3 or 4 or weaker signal next to them. I was
able to remove the Big Gun and copy the Little Pistol. Jeff wrote>>>I have
been under the impression that the new radio was more or less a
repackaged Jupiter/Pegasus in a smaller format.<<<< well yes that is what I
felt also, that is till I started using the Argonaut V. I can not remember
any time were I experienced filter blow by or AGC pumping. I use the
Argonaut V with out the attenuator being used, I wanted to see if the
Argonaut V could handle the contest conditions and it did. The Argonaut V
IS NOT JUST A REPACKAGED PEGASUS/JUPITER, it is different and I like its
difference. Now if some one could find A way to put the Argonaut V receiver
in my Pegasus-----.
One of the complaints I read on the reflector was about the Band Button only
going UP. I do not find this a problem now that I have use the first nine
memories for my band buttons. I can go up or down with out a lot of button
pushing.
I look forward to the day Scott tells us Ten-Tec is bring out the
Pegasus/Jupiter replacement. With the State of The Art changing for the
better I know this replacement will out do anything they are making now. I
do not include the Orion in my last statement, it is not out yet.
Do I like my Argonaut V, in a word, YES. Do I like all of my Ten-Tec radios
past and present? No not all of them but for the most part they have been
very good. Add to the first class radio's Ten-Tec builds, their service and
the way they make all of use feel like we are the most important person in
the world one could never go wrong with TEN-TEC.
KEN/W8KEB
USAF Retired
Flushing, Ohio
w8keb@arrl.net
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