Joe, I'd continue to experiment with your Orion setup. For ssb
contest situations, I normally don't use hang and dial in about
20dB/sec decay. Why stop at 1.8Khz? I use 1300-1650hz depending on
band condx, with a few hundred hz of +PBT. I tend to keep AGC
Threshold set very low and vary RF Gain often depending on
propagation, qrm, and how big the pileup is.
I'm sure other Orion ssb contesters have their own formulae.
I find the intelligibility/copyability of the Orion at narrow ssb
bandwiths significantly better than the Yaesu. In addition, with
multiple callers on the same frequency, the Orion AGC performs heads
above the Yaesu, and you can actually copy many distinct voices
simultaneously rather than hear one pile of mush.
I also urge everyone to try diversity reception. Even on 15M, I use
my 580ft Beverage in the subreceiver in the r ear and tx ant in main
rx and left ear to make an amazing difference in reception. Check
some of the ssb recordings at
http://n1eu.tripod.com/orion/diversity.htm
73,
Barry N1EU
On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:36:44 -0500, Joe Giacobello <k2xx@swva.net> wrote:
> I went out of my way this weekend to compare the performance of my
> FT-1000MP vs the Orion during the WPX test. My FT-1000MP has a full
> complement of Inrad IF filters and the 4 KHz roofing filter. The
> speaker and antenna were common to both receivers. All comparisons were
> done only on 15M SSB. It was quite easy for me to quickly switch
> between the two receivers by simultaneously switching two switches: one
> for the antenna and the other for the speaker.
>
> I tried to focus on weak to moderately strong DX sigs that were
> challenged by nearby strong QRM. In terms of selectivity, the two rigs
> were equal. Copyability was slightly better with the MP because its
> audio was more penetrating, and that was even after I decreased the bass
> response of the Orion from -15 to -20 dB. I was using the 1.8 KHz IF
> selectivity on the Orion with the passband tuning at about +250 Hz. The
> MP was using either the two cascaded stock SSB (about 2.5 KHz) filters
> or the Inrad 1.8 KHz in the high IF cascaded with the stock in the low
> IF. (Frankly, SSB is not easily copyable with both 1.8 KHz Inrads
> invoked in the MP.) I didn't use any of the DSP features of the MP and
> the RF gain was backed off slightly. The AGC setting on the MP was
> "fast" while the Orion was set at 0.65 second hang and an 8 dB decay.
>
> While these observations were not measured with electronic instruments
> under lab conditions as others have done, the perceived differences
> were, nonetheless, both distinct and consistent.
>
> Past, similar, subjective (objective?) comparisons on 80 and 40M CW
> under contest conditions have given the Orion a slight edge, but now I
> want to take another listen.
>
> Anyway, that's my assessment of the way things looked at this end on the
> weekend.
>
> 73, Joe
> K2XX
> _______________________________________________
> Orion mailing list
> Orion@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/orion
>
_______________________________________________
Orion mailing list
Orion@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/orion
|