Short about my Transceivers
In the fall of 2012 I was tempted beyond my means and gave myself an Elecraft K3.
The transceiver that is praised everywhere and is famous for its robustness and participation in many DXpeditions . There was a used one for sale on brugtgrej.dk and after a short period of consideration I jumped at the chance.
The model I bought has 2 receivers, Antenna tuner, 100W PA, 400Hz 8-pole filter, 6KHz + 2.4KHz filters, RF i/o module and Digital Voice recorder.
I don't know exactly how old it is. It can be difficult to determine from the serial number (2334) and the seller didn't know, but the best bid I've come up with is around December 2008 (then s/n 2362 was produced).
The K3 is truly a super station with a receiver that beats all the other radios I've tried ( Yaesu 450 and 1000, Kenwood TS950, etc.) and probably also surpasses my Ten- Tec in some respects, as it has a few more settings.
Since I'm not a technician and I'm not well-versed in technical specifications, I won't give any numbers, so this is a purely subjective assessment. Here on Elecrafts website there is a comparison table where you can see some numbers.
The first time you get your hands on a K3, you have no doubt that it is well built and designed for many years of use. The operation is very clear and the large display shows a lot of useful information so you can always see what it is doing. The buttons you use the most are also the most easily accessible and they are not so small that they are difficult to use.
Everyday use is learned quickly, but there is also a configuration menu where you can basically program your radio the way you want it to work. There are a lot of settings to optimize the receiver for your specific use and you can for example program how the sound should be sent to the different audio outputs, how the built-in Morse key should weight the characters, how much amplification should be added when you engage a filter, where the zero-beat should be and many many more things. There is really something to get started with here for the experimentalist.
My experience with Elecraft and Ten- Tec is that they are both super stations when it comes to CW (and that is the only one I have tried). I use both stations with equal pleasure and what Elecraft has in the receiver, the "Eagle" has in the " Silk" smooth Break-in" which is a joy to work with.
November 2011 my Ten-Tec Eagle 599AT arrived from the USA.How is it used?
The operation is quite simple. It doesn't have many buttons, but there are those you need for a quick setting. I best listen to radio stations without a whole lot of settings that I don't use for anything anyway. I only operate CW and use a paddle so the Eagle suits me really well.
The buttons have a dual function that is switched with the FNC button and adjusted with the Multi button. The functions you use most are also the ones you can get to most easily.
When I'm working on a band, I actually only use the VFO and the BW/PBT and AF/RF Gain buttons. They are well placed and easy to get to.
The receiver works really well. Once you have the RF gain set to suit the band, it's amazing how much you can hear. The RF gain should be set fairly low on most bands. After that, I mostly use BW and VFO.
The transmitter can deliver 100W and it is a good clean signal which several times in Pile-Ups means that I have come through after quite a few attempts. It cannot be due to the power nor my antenna which is not special ;o)
Ten Tec The Eagle 599 is clearly proof of how far technology has come and it has not disappointed me once yet.Another good thing is the small size and low weight. It is easy to carry as hand luggage on any plane and I use that too.
Here you can see my PalmRadio paddle which is attached under the radio. It is a smart little mini-paddle that does not take up any space on the table and is easy to carry when transporting the station around to my different locations.
I started with the Yaesu FT-450 in 2011. (It has now found a new happy owner in the Faroe Islands :o)
TEN-TEC Amateur Radio Equipment
TEN-TEC America's best and oldest manufacture of Commercial and Amateur radio equipment designed to provide the highest performance and greatest ease of use. Ten-Tec products set the standard for real world performance in the most rigorous and demanding applications.
1975 - 1985
I bought my first HF station from OZ4SJ, Svend Aa. Jensen in Valby. And I was in the capital myself to pick it up ; o)
OZ4SJ imported Amateur Radio equipment from America; such as Heathkit, Drake and Ten- Tec.
It was in 1975 and I had spent a long time visiting different dealers and seeing what equipment there was to choose from. Transceivers with transistors in the PA stage had started to appear so I was not interested in getting one with tubes. This meant that there were not so many models to choose from. On the other hand, there were several dealers at that time and I went around to several stores here in South/Central Jutland and Funen to look at the goods.
One of the transceivers I was very interested in was an Atlas 350-XL All solid state SSB/CW Transceiver 350Watt 10-160m Full-QSK which could be obtained from OP Electronic in Nykøbing F. but it was too expensive for me.
Other options were HeathKit byggesæt which were very popular but difficult to obtain in Denmark. There was a very popular model SB-102 SSB Transceiver which cost 5,900,- Kr (Delivered through OZ4SJ) and there was the new model SB-104 Single Sideband Transceiver which was somewhat more expensive. Heathkit also made a Low Cost model HW-101 5-Band SSB-CW Transceiver but it did not have full break-in and it had tubes in the PA stage.
Since I was only interested in CW, my interest quickly fell on Ten-Tec which had a good reputation and was already at the forefront of transistor technology, as well as being famous for their perfect QSK (real full break-in that doesn't get any better ; o)
It turned out that my wallet limited me and I ordered a Ten-Tec Argonaut 509 from Svend Aage and it cost me around 2,900,- DKK - picked up in Valby, of course. It became my first station with which I made countless QSOs until 1978 when I bought a Triton IV 540. You can read about the Transceivers below.
My previous Transceivers | |
 My first station that I was very happy with. It had a really good receiver and it had diode switching instead of relay switching at the transmitter/receiver (QSK).. |
Ten-Tec Argonaut 509 My first amateur radio station First QSO on December 19, 1975 [DM4ZEB] Last QSO on July 16, 1978 HF Transceiver Frekvensområde 10-80meter Modulationstyper CW/USB/LSB Frekvens Stabilitet <100 Hz @ 10.5 til 14 VDC Følsomhed <0,5 µV ved 10 dB S+N/N Selektivitet 2,5KHz v. 6dB single conversion: IF at 9 MHz Antenne impedans 50 Ohm Sendeeffekt 3 Watt Out CW QSK - Which just works! |
| Ten-Tec Century 21 Model 570 My second amateur radio station First QSO on July 18, 1978 [F6DYF] Last QSO on September 10, 1978 HF Transceiver Frekvensområde 10-80meter Modulationstyper CW/SSB Frekvens Stabilitet <10 Hz @ 10.5 til 14 VDC Følsomhed <1 µV ved 10 dB S+N/N Selektivitet 0,5 / 1,0 / 2,5 KHz Direct conversion receiver Antenne impedans 50 Ohm Sendeeffekt 30 Watt out CW QSK |
 I only had this station for a very short time. The receiver was simply unusable, it couldn't keep up with the Argonaut receiver at all. |
 This was a really nice little station that I made more than 6000 QSOs with up until July 1982. After 1982, there were only very few (the computer had taken the interest ;o) |
Ten-Tec Triton IV 540 My third amateur radio station First QSO on September 12, 1978 [OZ2QK] Last QSO on October 29, 1985 HF Transceiver Frekvensområde 10-80meter Modulationstyper CW/SSB Frekvens Stabilitet <10 Hz @ 10.5 til 14 VDC Følsomhed <0,3 µV ved 10 dB S+N/N Selektivitet 2,4KHz v. 6/60dB Single conversion: IF at 9 MHz Dual-gate MOSFET RF stage and MC1496 mixer Antenne impedans 50 Ohm Sendeeffekt 100 Watt Out CW QSK - The famous Ten- Tec that works! |
Ten-Tec Antenna Tuner model 247 And then I had an antenna tuner for my Triton station so I could use a LongWire antenna. It was also used with an 80/40 meter dipole. There were no instruments in the tuner. That wasn't necessary because the Triton had a built-in SWR meter. Oh yes, it was a was a DeLuxe station ;o) |
  |
 |
Yaesu FT-450 My fourth amateur radio station First QSO on September 11, 2011 [5B9CKV] Last QSO November 2011 HF Transceiver Frekvensområde 160-6 meter Modulationstyper CW/SSB/AM/FM Frekvens Stabilitet ±1 ppm/hour v.25°C Følsomhed <0,25 µV ved 10 dB S+N/N Selektivitet 2,2KHz v. 6/60dB Antenne impedans 50 Ohm Sendeeffekt 5-100 Watt |