The business also deals with depth-sounding and fish-finding equipment, satellite and other communications and autopilot systems. Tener and his wife, Peggy, own and run the business, which is located on the Homer Spit.

Beaver Nelson, a longtime commercial fisherman, said Tener has built a solid reputation among Homer mariners. As the business of fishing has become more dependent on on-board computers and sophisticated technology, Tener has effectively changed his approach toward helping fishermen meet their needs, said Nelson.

“That’s where he’s pulling his weight now,” Nelson said of Tener’s ability with computers and electronics. “He’s been super-helpful in that respect.”

Before moving to Homer in 1975, Tener lived in Anchorage and worked for a Seattle-based company that sold and installed radar. He found himself traveling often to Seldovia and Homer on business, and moved here with encouragement from his old company and a promise that it would be his supplier.

Tener found when he arrived that the atmosphere “was not conducive” to running a storefront business.

“There was nothing available,” he said. The small number of businesses looking to move to Homer had not been enough to encourage anyone to set up business space for rent downtown, he remembered.

After one or two unsuccessful tries at buying land near Pioneer Avenue, Tener wound up finding a home on the eastern edge of downtown and running South Central Radar out of his house for three years.

It was not the most desirable of working conditions.

“I had to move equipment off my couch just to sit down,” he said.

Starting from scratch was tough for the first few years, and his workdays regularly lasted late into the night, he said.

Tener sold and installed radar equipment for crabbers to help them locate their pots and navigate. Crabbing and shrimping were two of the biggest fisheries in Kachemak Bay at the time, Tener remembered. Two processors located on the north side of the bay handled much of the business from fishermen, most of whom still docked in Seldovia and elsewhere on the south side of the bay.

“The big money fishing fleet was still over there,” he said.

In 1978, Tener began renting a spot on the east side of the Homer Spit. The rent on that property increased dramatically at one point, however, and the business needed to expand. So he moved into space in the Manley Building, located next to the Fish Factory.

At about that time, former Gov. Jay Hammond instituted a loan program to help rebuild much of the state’s fishing fleet after money from the oil pipeline began to hit state coffers, Tener said. Salmon fishermen also were enjoying high prices, and it was a hectic time in the fishing industry. Business for South Central Radar became busier as more and more people built boats.

The business is still located on the Spit, for the last two years in a gray building two doors away from the Salty Dawg Saloon.

The inventory has changed, however, and while Tener at one time relied more on technicians, the business now is heavily dependent on electronics. Tener went from having five technicians on staff to one. Repairs, he said, used to be more complicated.

When the Coast Guard installed long-range navigation systems around the state, boats didn’t need to rely on older radar systems, he said.

Nowadays, companies selling radar equipment won’t see customers come back to have the equipment serviced for a few years. When they do, repairs don’t take long — often they are as simple as changing an electrical board.

While the navigation business is consistently moving into new areas, fisheries-related customers still make up the lion’s share of Tener’s clients. They in turn are happy to have Tener’s expertise to rely on, said longtime commercial fisherman and state Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer.

“It’s been great to have a real stable business there that you can trust and depend on,” Seaton said.