From the estate of VE7DYR of Courtenay BC.
A fantastic Ten-Tec “Jupiter” Model 538 SDR transceiver, fully functional and in top notch cosmetic condition. This rig has near-original firmware (version 1.19, dated 2002.06.14) and sports the original green LCD screen sought after by many collectors of this very early SDR-based amateur radio transceiver.
The radio powers up and passes all internal tests and all controls and options are functional. The receiver works very well and power output is nominal.
The Jupter runs on 12-14 VDC. The power connector on the rear of the rig is the Ten-Tec stock connector, but a short adapter cable could be built to convert the stock connector to an Anderson “Powerpole” connector. I used an adapter for testing the rig. I would not change the connector as that could affect the collectible value of this desirable vintage rig.
The radio was purchased new by VE7DYR and was used as his “go to” radio for several years, but it has been in storage since 2012.
I powered up the radio to test it and made two CW contacts in short order, with good RST received from the other stations. It has excellent sensitivity and selectivity, great variable RX bandwidth control, a built-in keyer, voice processor, noise blanker and many other advanced features that were almost unheard of in amateur radio 2002.
Ten-Tec was one of the first companies to offer a complete software-defined radio to the amateur radio market. The fact that the firmware is from 2002 and that it has the green LCD display sets this rig apart from the later-model Jupiters.
The firmware can be updated, of course, but I felt that it would be of more interest to collectors to sell the unit with its early version 1.19 firmware intact.
There is no microphone with this rig, but it uses a standard 4-pin mic configuration so several modern microphones would work fine. I do not own a compatible mic so I could not test the rig on SSB/AM/FM.
Listing price is based on recent sales of Jupiters on another mainstream auction site.
Interac e-Transfer accepted, and questions welcome. Would prefer local sale to prevent need of shipping.
Thanks for looking and 73!
Kevin VE7ZD
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