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write your own review of the Ten-Tec Omni-VII.
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K9NZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 22, 2009 15:32
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Good Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had the opportunity to have a Omni VII with the 500 hrz. roofing filter and newest firmware in the shack for a little while and have put it though the paces in the ARRL DX contest. This is my findings so far, The Omni VII is very easy to use and has a great front panel lay out, the menu is very easy to use and there is no dsp ring in the filters. I like the radio, but have found that it is not a contest radio or a radio that I would want to try and dig out a weak signals on 160 meters. In the presence of strong signals, say s-8 or better within a Khz. or so I just could not get rid of the Qrm. I ran a A/b with my Elecraft K3, also with the 500 hrz. filter the K3 alway came away the winner. I find only a few of the calls of the many reveiws on this fine radio in DX-pedition logs and then SSB. The Omni has very good audio and a fun radio to use, If you are a net operator or a casual HF'er and want great audio and a very nice radio, you will not go wrong with this radio. But for serious Cw and contest work I think the K3 is more in line with what I expect in a radio.
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NK8A
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 22, 2008 06:06
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Excellent radio for this price class
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have had my Omni 7 since february,2008 and I have been able to feel comfortable using all it's features.It has been easy to operate and a pleasure. At first I was A/B testing the omni with my other brand transciever,which did a good job for me also. Over time I have found, how great the reciever performs, and also the extra features the omni has, which greatly help me as a cw operator. If a ham wants a quality radio that is user friendly, and has all the features that you will need,(in my opinion), the price of the Omni 7 is worth it.
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NA1A
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 24, 2008 13:00
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Best rig for ESSB without mod
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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By the time you're reading this, you must have read about how great this transceiver is from other reviewers. This article is strickly geared toward the use of this radio for Hi-Fi SSB or else know as ESSB or VooDoo Audio...
This is by far the best HF transceiver on the market today if you want to use it at this extreme level. The receiver is flat from 20 to 6KC (you do need to adjust the PBT to get this) and the monitor audio is just like what comes straight out from the audio rack. The transmitter is also very flat, which makes it very easy to EQ for best quality audio.
At one time, I also had the Orion II (see my other review). I prefer the Omni VII for its simplicity, superb receiver performance and transmitter accuracy.
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K4RWW
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 19, 2008 08:11
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Best desirable features
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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If you like to diddle, twiddle and fiddle, get the K3. If you prefer ease of use, good audio and superb receiver performance without navigating multiple menus and dual use buttons, get the Omni VII. Both transceivers set the standard for mid-priced state of the art ham radio technology. Both have learning curves, one considerably steeper than the other. Both have easy upgradeability and unequaled made-in-USA customer support. It is incredibly satisfying to call Ten Tec and speak to a knowledgeable technician in a minute or two. Don't try that with the other brands. There is no one transceiver that excels in all the characteristics preferred by the multifaceted ham community. Specs, reviews and test results are important but don't always tell the whole story. Test numbers and rankings are often biased toward a particular operating style such as contesting or cw. Based on using many different ham transceivers over the years, considering ssb, cw and digital modes, I believe the Omni VII represents the best set of desirable features and the fewest shortcomings of any in its price class.
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KZ3DX
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 11, 2008 10:42
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The only HF Radio you will ever need
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This radio is magnificent. It is the Collins KWM-2A of the 21st Century.
All of the comments and videos are nice, but they are not a substitute for operating it yourself.
Like all of it's products, TenTec is so sure you will like this radio that they will let you try it at your QTH for 30 days. (Have you ever wondered why the other manufactures don't let you do the same?)
This radio is an investment that will give you many happy years of great service and enjoyment.
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TOPPER
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 30, 2008 14:55
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Solid Radio
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This my 5th Ten-Tec, they continue refine & define what a good mid priced tranciever should be. The many cw features are wonderful. I do not find the band-scope useful, & Noise Reduction introduces some distortion. Many features to play with & yet very straight forward operation with a sensitive & selective reciever. N7AG
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G0MLY
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 25, 2008 10:24
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Fulfils its Design Brief to a T
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The design brief is this radio is clear from TenTec's own documentation.
1. Be easy for the average Amateur to operate
2. Have features expected from top-line radios
3. Have a remote Ethernet facility
4. Include General Coverage and 6m on tx/rx.
This review simply asks, have they done what they promised? The answer is unequivocally "Yes".
If you want more detail, read on...
1. The O7 has got to be one of the easiest radios I have ever used, and I had a few going back to IC-735. For a Ham with large fingers, there are large knobs and finger-friendly buttons. It makes my TS-2000 (another great radio!) look designed for children's fingers. There is a large screen with buttons labelled around it, yet the radio's footprint is not that large. There is ONE menu only, not nests of them, though this could arguably be ordered more logically than at present. Alphabetical or by mode would be better than the current firmware's random setup, in my opinion. In any case, the most used menu items are still controllable from the Front Panel.
2. The performance features in the radio, for it's price, do indeed rival top-line radios. Sherwood rates it in his top 10, IP3 performance is excellent, but more than the figures, it's the sound and "feel" of it in use that makes it so great to use. In general use, I get great audio reports and in contests, for the first time, I can actually hear weak stations in between the loud ones - astonishing what is there, when you can hear it! You do have to learn to work the radio, though. With the O7, you have to use the RF gain, the roofing filters and PBT a lot more "creatively" than with a Far Eastern radio.
3. It has a remote Ethernet facility - end of! I know a few folk have had problems making the complete package work, but if you hit issues, it will still work remotely like the TS-2000 or TS-480 via HRD and some kind of audio and VPN client software. Hang loose, folks, it's a hobby, remember!
4. It has a General Coverage Receiver and transceives on 6m - enough said!
In conclusion, I cannot see how, at the price, anyone can really complain about this radio. It knocks my previous HF radios into a cocked hat performance-wise and that's really what matters. Yes I'd like a scope like on the IC-7700, yes it would be nice to have more memory control, yes I'd like a lot more bells and whistles like a clock on the display and maybe an analogue meter, but hey, that starts to take the radio OUTSIDE of its design brief, to be SIMPLE to operate.
What you pay for with the O7, and get, is top notch performance, ergonomic ease of use, and a footprint in the shack that even the most spatially challenged can use.
Add to this, the best customer service I have ever experienced in Ham Radio, from both the USA and the UK sides (hats off to AOR), and the only reasonable conclusion can be that it fulfils its design brief perfectly - and despite folks' niggles, it is a well-rounded 5!
Now I've cut my teeth on one TT rig, I wonder if I am ready to take on the Orion II? :)
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KD9Y
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 25, 2008 07:58
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Thanks Ten-Tec
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This is a great radio. It is well designed, quiet and easy to use. The instruction manual is simple and and well written. However I am still looking to determine what the “SERIAL IF OMNI-VII” or “SteepIR/CT” is used for.
The radio is somewhat expensive for what you are getting, but it is American made; thank you Ten-Tec. Operator conveniences, such as grouped or banked memories, memory scanning, CW and voice keyers are unavailable. The automatic antenna tuner can not be retrofitted after you get it. The “EXT T/R DELY” is set at 100%, which is not enough of a delay for slow CW sending; my amplifier relays keep clicking in and out, which is a good way to wear them out. The pre-amplifier is not very effective. I notice some difference on 20 meter and up bands, but needed to resort to an outboard pre-amplifier to hear the rare DX when the bands are quiet, especially on 160, 80 and 40 meters.
Using the radio in the remote mode is a great way to operate this radio. I have a wireless lap top and I can control all aspects of the radio from outdoors to around the house. Also, this radio does not require a computer interface to operate CW or digital modes. All I did was use the supplied remote cable, plugged it into the the rear of the radio and connected the appropriate connections (using RCA to 1/8 stereo plug adapters) to the sound card input and output. However, the output from the radio to the sound card input is a little high, and an antennuator was used. After tweaking the radio's menu and loading up MMTTY or DigiPan, etc. into the computer, I was all set to operate CW or digital modes.
When I compair this radio to my other radios, I find the Omni VII excells in some aspects while my other radios (Yaesu FT-2000 and Kenwood TS-2000) excell in others. This is a great radio you will enjoy.
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KD6RXM
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 20, 2008 08:23
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Ham Radio Heaven
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Not having had other transceivers to compare the Omni VII, I can only submit to you my findings regarding this fine radio. The initial appeal was the inter-net capability for remote operation, and there was no disappointment in the operation of the software that is provided free.
The unit was used as a receiver for the first year. A slinky antenna stretched across the top of the ceiling was adequate for this purpose.
Agonizing over what antennas could be erected outside and at the same time would be compatible with the restrictions outlined in my CCR's, a Winsock pole and a couple of par electronics end-fedz wire antennas would be stealthy enough to allow operatation without complaints.
Putting up 40m and 20m versions and getting on the air just in time for the California QSO party in early October, there were deep concerns at first. Contacts were complaining of the very base heavy audio and some complained it was almost unreadable. Poking around in the menu system, eventually discovering the transmit bandwidth was set at a minimum and the roll off to set to the maximum. Not a very good combination for good crisp audio. So a quick look into the manual led to the settings and adjusted them to the recommended defaults, which transformed the audio reports from poor to outstanding. In fact, the first station contacted after adjusting described the audio as "wonderful". I have no idea how the settings were set so incorrectly, probably operator error on my part.
Loving the fact that there are few buttons to fool around with, one or two twists of a knob or two, and then ham radio heaven. Love the simplicity.
RFsquared provides remote software which has the extra benefit of CW encoding from the keyboard. Being a no-code extra, this is of great benefit of course. It allows me to work CW, and in conjunction with CWget software for decoding, I can send perfect CW and read what others are sending. How cool is that!
Overall, a most impressive rig based on audio reports and ease of operation. It occurs to me that maybe the purchase of this radio wasn't necessarily for the operator, but for those listening in.
And one final thought, this radio is built in the USA. Need I say more...
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W9ZX
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 2, 2008 18:50
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Excellent performance
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I am very impressed with this radio. I also own an Orion II and an Icom Pro III. I don't think the Tentec has the "quality feel" of a Yaesu, Icom, or Kenwood but the receiver performance is better in my opinion. The quietness and selectivity of the Omni VII is quite impressive. The Pro III does have the best scope but, having said that, I have barely used my Pro III since purchasing the Tentec. The Omni VII is a pleasure to use and to listen to. I much prefer the noise reduction and receive audio on the Tentec to the Icom.
Comparing the Omni VII to the Orion II in a bit like comparing a Chevy to a Cadillac. Both will get you from point A to point B comfortably but the Caddy is more refined. If I could only keep one radio it would certainly be the Orion II. Only you can decide if the refinements are worth the difference in price.
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