Yes, here in the tropics these are related topics!
We are close to Lahaina days(?). On Lahaina Day,
the good, warm tropical Sun will be directly overhead
at high noon, local time; that is at the zenith point.
Here on Kauai, from that day until nearly mid July,
the Sun will be gradually moving even more to the North
of overhead and then eventually return to the zenith,
and then go on South. If you live where such occurs,
you, by definition live in the tropics, or somewhere
between the Tropic of Cancer just North of Hawaii,
down to the Tropic of Capricorn, which runs through
the Northern part of Australia, etc.
We neither have heat nor cooling in our homes; just
windows which are always open in every room, including
here in my little radio shack room. I have an overhead
fan directly over my operating table.
But it is still too warm usually to wear headphones comfortably.
So, to enjoy the panoramic audio, etc. of the new Orion,
I have plugged a Boston Acoustics set of amplified
speakers into the stereo headphone jack on the front of
my Orion; so the stereo audio appears out in the
Boston speakers on either side of my operating position,
about 42" apart with me sitting between them. Very
comfortable for tropic operation. And there is NO
odd high pitched constant audio "tone" in any operating
mode!
The tropic environment also accounts for my use of the
option TT fan for the Orion heat sink. And I cannot possibly
hear it; I was always bothered by the fan in my FT-1000D
as it seemed to be constantly cycling On and Off, hi. But
the Orion opt. fan is absolutely silent.
I also use a Ten Tec 961 power supply for the Orion, it is
the coolest running supply I have. The 962 operates with
much higher case heating, so have stopped using it. And
I have 7" of space between the 961 and the Orion and a
shelf divider also. No way can heat from the 961 radiate
or conduct to the Orion.
So, sometimes you do things to reduce the heat output
from and the heating up of your rig components even if
you are not running high duty cycle modes: RTTY, PSK31,
etc.
BTW, now have everything operating fine to do PSK31,
and the other digital modes with the Orion using MixW2
and the Donner's Digital Interface unit. Note, as the Orion
design puts out the proper audio levels, etc. for digital
ops, you do need to turn the pot inside the Donner unit
full open.
I am just learning to use the MixW2 program, so no QSO's
yet with digital.
Each day I appreciate the Orion more. And continue to
be astonished at the main rcvr performance!! BTW,
N4PY's Orion control software is a real kick to use,
but is not yet fully functional; Carl believes he
will have it going well in June.
73, Jim KH7M
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