I remember the S1.  I never owned one but I did have the pleasure of owning
the 220MHZ version of that radio the S2.  My only complaint was that the
batteries couldn't be replaced easily.  You had to remove 4 screws from the
back of the radio before taking the back cover off.  The batteries were in a
pack attached to wires with some sort of small proprietary connecter on
them.  The battery pack consisted of a bunch of nicads bound together by
what looked like heat shrink material.  Obviously the packs weren't designed
for quick and easy replacement.

You could always tell when someone was running a Tempo rig because as the
batteries became weaker you would hear a ping sound when the radios were
keyed.

That's why when Icom came out with their IC 2, 3, and 4 series of portables
the S1, 2 and 4 rigs were soon eclipsed.  The Icom rigs were thumb-wheel
controlled like the Tempo S series but had easily removable battery packs
plus a rapid charger. The Tempo portables could only be trickle charged.
The tempo rigs when in their stock condition couldn't be ran off of a dc
source.  The Icoms did have that capability.

On a related note Tempo briefly came out with the S5 which was a 2 meter ht
with an easily removable battery pack.

For their time the S1 rigs and their brothers were revolutionary as they
were the first truly hand held synthesized hts for vhf and uhf.


Dave Marthouse N2AAM
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