Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021
While I was prepping for a media interview I’m set to record tomorrow, I took part of the day off to finish unboxing the Ten Tec Paragon — the second one, not the first one I bought with the memory issues.
The Paragon was just about spotless; no major scratches or scuffs. Very minty looking rig!
The radio was packed with the DC cable and a Ten Tec desk mic. I hooked it up and it came to life. The first thing I did was to check for filters; the radio had no CW filter — arrgh! Fortunately, when I bought my first Paragon I also picked up a 500 Hz CW filter for that radio. However, that radio already had a 500 Hz CW filter installed, so I’ve had that filter laying around on my office desk for the past couple of years.
Its very simple to add or remove filters from the Paragon, so I retrieved the extra filter and installed it in the new Paragon.
OK AFTER WARM-UP? When I first powered up the Paragon, the received audio was distorted on audio peaks. I cut back the RF Gain quite a bit, and the distortion was greatly reduced.
After the radio warmed up for 3 or 4 minutes, the distortion was gone, and I could crank the RF Gain back wide open without a hint of distortion.
I turned the radio off and waited 30 seconds before turning it back on … the distortion hadn’t returned. There’s something in the Paragon — perhaps the audio amp section? — that has to warm up a bit.
The CW filter worked fabulously; I checked in on my CW net, and the rig worked beautifully; the QSK was perfect, and the radio was everything that the Ten Tec reputation said it was.
The receiver is particularly nice to listen to, and is I only hope that my still-in-the-box Yaesu FTDX-101MP receiver compares favorably with the old Paragon!
At the rate I’m collecting some great classic rigs, I’m going to have to expand Studio C before I move the operating desks upstairs.
73 es CUL …. de KY4Z …. SK …. SK ….. (dit dit) …