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write your own review of the TenTec 1001.
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KC5GDL
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 26, 2007 22:52
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Works Great!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I built this as a fun project to see if I could get my scanner to get a readable signal from a distant aircraft VOR on 112.300 Mhz - to listen to the HIWAS broadcasts. I put it in a nice aluminum box and made it switchable, so I could do A/B comparisons with it on and off. The VOR signal did improve noticeably, although the noise level increased a bit as well. However, on stronger signals the receiver AGC clamps down with the preamp on, and it sounds more like the background noise just suddenly disappeared - rather than the signal getting louder. (Almost like DSP!)
The most spectacular difference was with NOAA weather satellite reception (137.x Mhz). With the preamp on I can hear the birds before they are above the horizon! With it off and receiving a marginal signal, there is a distinct "crash, crash, crash..." sound of noise bursts (also AGC related), but with the preamp on I get a much cleaner signal. The difference is really noticeable when comparing the quality of the received weather images with the preamp on and with it off.
I am using an aircraft band 1/4 wave vertical on top of my house and I am located in an area relatively free of RF interference - so the broadband nature of this preamp did not present any problems for me.
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KC5CQW
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 9, 2002 11:41
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Simple to build and cheap!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It has eight parts total including the 1.75" pc board. The main part is the Hewlett Packard MSA-0104. I got this amp a while back and I am now useing it to replace the preamp in my IC-730. It gives about 17-18db gain and it seems to be a little more then the original preamp in the 730. I have noticed that any signal less then S-2 w/o the preamp will be covered by noise when it is activated. However, signals around S-5 become LOUD AND CLEAR well into the +20-60db range! I gave it a "4" because of the low input signal problem.
For IC-730 owners: To put this amp inline and disable the original Icom preamp, (The transistors in mine are fried and I already had this preamp built. You could just replace them in yours I guess:-) ) On the RF board remove R2 and L3,4. Then solder the in and outputs of the amp into the primary winding holes where the transformers where. Next, ground the DC (-) and solder the DC 13.8+ to the input of the removed R2. Dat's it Doc.
Damon, KC5CQW
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