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Reviews For: Ten-Tec Delta 580

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Ten-Tec Delta 580
Reviews: 17MSRP: 849.00
Description:
160 ~ 10M + WARC BAND SSB-CW.
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00174.8
W0FEN Rating: 2016-09-10
Great Analog Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one new in the early 1980s. I loved this radio.
CW break-in is great
Manual notch filter is excellent
I added the noise blanker & narrow CW filter.
I had the matching remote VFO. The switching on the VFO included a way to listen to both TX & VFO freqs at the same time. This was great for operating split.
KB5RU Rating: 2015-12-29
My Best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a 580 Delta years ago and let it get away. I always regretted selling it. I looked for one for years and they are rare and hard to find. Finally I saw one for sale and bought it. Much to my surprise it was the radio I had sold. It will not get away from me again. It has better recovered audio, and better signal to noise than my Orion or my Omni VII and has better audio than my S-line, KWM2A, or Drakes. Find one and it will become your go to radio.
WB8ICU Rating: 2014-10-26
great for it's age Time Owned: more than 12 months.
works quite well. I run cw exclusively, and ten tec is the way to go. I do have a problem presently with the on off switch being intermittent, but hey, it's old. I have had one ham complain that he got rid of his because it drifts. Wonder if he has a problem with the power lines at his house, since I have never had anyone complain about mine.
KD5HLB Rating: 2013-07-19
Excellent transmit and receive! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I love this little transceiver! I have several modern radios but I keep pulling this one back out. It is simple to operate and does not drift. Keep getting great signal reports. I use a vintage P5550M hand mic that was made by Pathcom. I must say the 580 Delta has better receive (on the same antenna) than my newer radios. Ten-Tec has them all beat hands down. One day I'll upgrade to an OMNI VII.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KD5HLB on 2008-01-30

I recently traded for a Delta 580 that just came back from Ten-Tec for minor work and tuning. It puts out about 95 watts on all the bands and the audio and signal reports have been really good. The microphone is a hand mic but I'm looking for the 214 desk mic. I think I'll keep this one to play around on.
NG9A Rating: 2013-03-20
Solid Performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In 1983, I bought a used 580 Delta with full compliment of CW filters, 283 Remote VFO and 280 Power Supply. After a year of initial use, the unit sat on a shelf for 30 years due to pursuing other interests. Early this year, I started the refurbishment process. Both PTOs had hardened grease and the shafts were frozen. Ten Tec offers PTO rebuild support and now both 580 and 283 PTO tuners work perfectly. The 580 and 283 were then realigned by following the instruction manuals and both now work flawlessly, with no major component replacement. What a pleasure to operate! The 280 power supply had some age issues with some of the discrete components, but replacement was easy and the vintage 20A 13.5V supply is up and running again. All in all, ownership of the Ten Tec gear has been a positive experience and the successful rebuild has reinforced to me the Ten Tec reputation for unparalleled quality.
OLLIEOXEN27 Rating: 2011-05-01
It's a Ten Tec Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this screwdriver special on Evil bay. I couldn't make a qso to save my life the first few days. Turned out the tx and rx frequencies were misaligned by a previous owner. Use it now with the rit at 270 degrees. Why do people do that?

Anyway now it works great. A few nights ago I worked some Asiatic Russian stations over the n pole around midnight using an half wave inverted L on 20m. What's neat is I just sit on 14010, turn on the narrow cw filter, and tune plus or minus 5khz
and the signals just pop up one after another from a quiet background.
Working them is like shooting ducks at an arcade.
After several minutes I look up at the digital display and the 100hz red digit is flickering. It's a Ten Tec!
N8JHJ Rating: 2011-01-15
Thumbs Up! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My Delta is like my favorite easy chair....no hassle....I have always enjoyed the reports from distant dx. My Delta works great with a diapole or vert. My Delta has been problem free for over 15 years...what more could I expect?
N4DBM Rating: 2010-01-29
Great Rig for Field Day! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I started out with the 580-Delta when I was a Novice class back in 1988. I was 11 years old and the rig was simple enough I could operate it with ease. I enjoyed making contacts all over the place both on CW and 10 meter phone. The operation is easy. My audio reports on phone were always great. Handy SWR meter built in. The main thing I noticed about this rig was how efficient the power amp is, making it nice for portable (back then).. And the receiver...Well, we used this rig for Field Day back in the late 80's and the receiver selectivity OUT PERFORMED all other "modern day" rigs brought out that day. The I.F. filtering is excellent. It worked wonders in jammed-packed bands that year. I would definitely recommend this radio to a friend who wants a simple, dependable HF transceiver.
K5AF Rating: 2008-10-06
Oh My! A Wonder of Simplicity! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After using a pair of Omni VIs and now a pair of K-3s, I thought would never find myself looking back at simple technology with such warm reminiscence.

In an effort to downsize my shack, I finally decided to sell my old Ten-Tec Delta 580 transceiver. While I knew the rig functioned well before I stored it away, I felt obligated to fire it up one more time to ensure the new owner would have no issues.

Here is a radio with no computer interface, no digital tuning, no fancy bells and whistles, and, hell, not even an RF Gain control. Yet when I turned it on, I felt like the antenna was connected directly to my ears. Signals popped out of the noise with seemingly nothing between the headphones and the antenna. Even with very rudimentary filtering, signals were easily separated.

I changed bands with a rotary bandswitch, wow! No buttons to locate and push, or crazy up/down commands. Damn, this is fun!

After making a few highly enjoyable contacts, I thought to myself that maybe I should not sell this great radio, and just find another one and do a low-tech SO2R setup for under $500!

Then I thought about band mapping, computer control and all the good things the digital age has brought us and realized that I couldn't go back.

These old Ten-Tec radios are a wonder of simplicity. I can think of no better way to enjoy the hobby than with one of these. Corsair II is my favorite of the lot, and some day after I've had my fill of contesting, I'll tie one of these radios to a ladder-line dipole and enjoy the purest form of human communication that is possible via ham radio.

This review is my parting tribute to this old rig that has been a faithful backup and a source of great pleasure to me. Thanks, my friend!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K5AF on 2006-06-17

Like its little brother, the Argosy, the Delta was Ten-Tec's attempt to build a full-featured transceiver in a slightly smaller package than its mainstream rigs. The result was a very attractive radio that erred on the side of simplicity.

Simplicity means just a volume control, no RF gain control (there is a selectable attenuater on the back panel!) Also, there is no separate switch for RIT, just a detent position in the center of the range.

This simplicity doesn't mean this radio is a slouch! It is the same conversion scheme that was used on the Corsair series, and ultimately on the Omni V and VI. The receiver is very hot, and the combination of audio filtering and audio notch provides for very enjoyable reception. In fact, I like the receive audio on this radio much better than on the Omni VI.

QSK is typical Ten-Tec-silky smooth. I have always wondered, though, why Ten-Tec would make a radio with crisp, lightning-fast QSK and then use slow "hang" AGC with it. The AGC is time constant is easily changed with a simple mod, I will do that when I get the chance.

Despite owning a pair of Omni VIs, I almost always have an old Ten-Tec analog radio around for general use. I always enjoy the QSOs, maybe it takes me back to a simpler time. Maybe these radios were pretty good after all!




AB3EN Rating: 2008-04-29
Great radio / excellent receiver / Great TenTec service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I picked this 580 up used from a friend several years ago and used it daily for a few months until I got an Icom 7000. I sold this unit on Ebay and the fellow who bought it complained that it had internal birdies, so I refunded him the money and took back the 580. After I sold it I realized I should have held on to it, so I was happy to get it back. I sent it off to Ten Tec to see what could be done with the birdie (only on the CW portion of the bands). It turns out that the birdie is from the display oscillator and Ten Tec could reduce it but not eliminate it. They rebuilt the PTO and aligned the the unit as well as replacing most of the caps. I am happy it is back with me.

I found that the 580 is more sensitive than the IC-7000 and use it to work QSO's and the Icom to work contests with the HRD software.

The 580 is a simple but effective rig and Ten Tec service gets an A++++