I appreciate all the ideas so far.

I have requested the ten-tec list.

In reading reviews about various Ten-Tec models, there is frequent
mention about failing PTO's and the need for rebuilding. How
concerned should I be about this? Are certain models problematic in
this regard than others?

In terms of various Ten-Tec models....any particular ones "stand out"
over others?

I do have a TS-520S and agree that it is a very solid and reliable
choice. It is in reasonable shape and I may put some restoration
dollars into that as a "back up #2." I pulled it out of the closet
after 10 years and fired it up yesterday. Works well on cw. Amazing
how well it has held up after about 30 yrs. That was one expensive
piece of gear for me when I was in college!

Russ K3Pi

wrote:
In reading reviews about various Ten-Tec models, there is frequent
mention about failing PTO's and the need for rebuilding. How
concerned should I be about this? Are certain models problematic in
this regard than others?

ALL PTOs need to be rebuilt at some time. They work by moving an iron or
brass core inside tube with a coil wound on the tube. The lubricants
dry out, they become dirty, the gears wear. Ten-Tec is different in that
they still rebuild PTOs for you, sell rebuild kits, and include instructions
in their manuals.

Some people have had luck with re-lubricating them. Special bycicle
libricant has been mentioned on the Ten-Tec mailing list of doing the job,
it contians very small balls of teflon. Others have used WD-40 to remove
the old grease and applying fresh.

It depends upon too many factors to make a blanket statment. If you are
going to buy a rig, try it out. If the tuning knob sticks, the frequency
jumps or "wiggles" when you touch the knob, it probably needs a rebuild.

My personal favorite is the model 544 aka Trition-IV Digital. It is well
designed and simple to repair or maintian. The digital part is the
frequency display, not the tuning. If the PTO is in good shape,
it is easy to tune "spot on". A lot easier than a sythesized rig except
for the new ones with 1Hz tuning steps.

It only does CW and SSB, but it does them extremely well. It is missing the
WARC bands (they did not exist when the radio was made), and it has a
fixed 2.4kHz IF filter. Options for it were a second VFO for split operation,
crystals for the top end of 10m, a switched capacitor audio filter for CW,
and a 160 meter adaptor.

If you like full QSK, it has it, you can hear what is going on between
dits if you send slow enough.

I understand that you can pick one up for about $200 and up depending
upon options, if it has been serviced recently, etc.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Thanks, Geoff for the detailed and helpful reply.
Very informative.

73
Russ K3Pi