Elecraft or Ten-Tec?
The performance of my trusty and loyal 5BDXCC-with-wire-antenna old Yaesu FT840 in last weekend’s CQ-WPX contest was the same as it always is in high RF environments: not too bad.
Still, it’s served its time and deserves a comfortable semi-retirement in the shack as the back-up rig. So I’m pondering – and have been for months now – which rig to replace it with: a K3 or a Jupiter.
As a CW-only operator, the QSK is a necessity despite my ownership of the ’840. My first rig as a Novice (Ten-Tec Century 21) and all my QRP rigs have convinced me that any future rigs will have QSK. So I’ve narrowed the choice to these two.
Elecrafters will probably feel insulted that I’m considering the lowly Jupiter rather than the Orion as a possible alternative to the K3, but economists will understand…
So with the K3 and the Jupiter costing roughly the same, why even consider the Ten-Tec when all the reviews rave about the Elecraft’s superior performance? Three reasons:
- The same non-stop adulation permeated the ham magazines & websites following the release of Elecraft’s K2. I never bought a K2 but, man, I wanted one! Lusted for one, would be more like it. Finally – finally I got the chance to operate one long term from my own home with my own antennas. It was a pretty good rig, but that’s it. Nothing fantastic and an ergonomic disappointment with those tiny buttons and that annoying ”tap & hold” scheme.
- Secondly, the mind-set of many Elecraft owners is bizarre in its fanatacism. By bizarre, I mean frickin’ weird! Read this guys’ reaction to an unfavorable review of the K3 – sounds like a one-man think tank, doesn’t he? Some owners may be reluctant to publically give a poor review to a K2/K3.
- Lastly, the ongoing issuance of “errata” and updates for the K2 (and now the K3) may be seen as positive by some – for me, it indicates a product that was released while still in its beta phase. I don’t want to be a guinea pig for $2500 worth of radio. Further indication of this are the problems various owners report on the Elecraft mailing list. They do get resolved – sometimes it was just that radio, sometimes its a bug in the firmware or a component value that needed to be corrected. That’s fine for those who’ll put up with it. I’d be one of them if it weren’t happening so often. I haven’t ruled out the Elecraft, but as you can tell, I’m leaning heavily toward the Ten-Tec.
It may be that the proper time to buy an Elecraft product is a year or so after its release when the beta-testers have, at their own expense, exposed all the problems.
Themocracy
Don’t feel alone in the thoughts between the two rig manufacturers. The Jupiter is a great rig and glowing reports on the Omni-7 (web controlled options). The Orion is a “green rig” still too many changes just like the K-3. I decided that QSK is not that important, but a fast semi-QSK is nice, so I went to the do-it-all rigs, Yaesu FT-857D and FT-817 route. Now I am spoiled….no more ham band only rigs for me.
It was a toss up between the Omni VII and K3 for me as well. Both are excellent radios from excellent companies.
I finally chose the K3, placed my order about a week or two after it was announced, waited 10 months for the radio to arrive, and never regretted it. I chose the Elecraft for the very reason you seem reluctant — I am comforted to know that a manufacturer is eager to remedy issues that pop up in the early units. I’ve never owned a K2 but I did follow that radio for a while and was so impressed with the level of interaction between the company and the user that it made it an easy choice to go with the K3, knowing that I might be a “beta tester” but confident I wouldn’t be left twisting in the wind.
All radios have issues, I’ve never owned one that didn’t, but it wasn’t until Elecraft and Ten-Tec that manufacturers went above and beyond their duty, not just to address problems but also add new features at users’ requests that your typical manufacturer of days past would not have given a thought about. We’ve all lived for years with Japanese rigs that had, um, “personality quirks” which we just had to live with.
I’ve followed the K3 evolution from day one, and feel that the 99% of the firmware “fixes” coming out of Aptos these days are to add new features or improve things that already work well. I wouldn’t let the continuing evolution scare you off. The radio has been shipping for well over a year and a half, it’s pretty solid in its present incarnation.
The Elecraft “fanboy” thing is certainly amusing; it reminds me of Mac users who are passionate about their computers, often to the point of annoyance. But there is a reason for it in both cases: superior products produce a loyal, evangelical following. Ten-Tec users aren’t much different, in my experience; neither are Icom users. A quick look at online forums devoted to those products will show there are fanboys for all makes and models of radios. I think that’s a good thing, mostly.
Whichever radio you chose, I’m sure you’ll be happy. If I had the scratch I’d own both the K3 and Omni VII as they each have unique features that I find appealing.
73 DE WW2PT
Thanks for the insight, Paul – and nice blog you have there.