Several of you have written in asking me about updates on the status of the Model 539 and Model 418 from Ten-Tec. I asked Ten-Tec Software Engineer, John Henry, for an update. Here is his response:

Hi Tom,

We have ordered and are building what we think will be representative of the final production boards for the 539. We may have one more board spin for one or two boards, but hardware wise I believe we are in pretty good shape.

Software, we are still in development of the firmware for the rig, but we are making real good progress.

Timing, not sure yet, but it is in process along with several other new items.

Regarding the 418, we have two more tweaks to the firmware to make. The hardware is finished, and being released to production. We are ordering parts, and plan to be at least taking orders around mid May, if not shipping by then. We passed the testing for FCC, and are in the process of getting the paperwork through FCC. We had a lot of positive input on the 418 at Orlando Hamcation, so we expect the 418 to be a hit with QRPers that also want to use their QRP rig to go 100watts occasionally.

Thanks for the interest,

John