To me, it will be interesting to see what the 'big gun' contesters do in
terms of updating their basic transceiver as these folks are primarily
performance thinking people. Performance counts over 'bells and whistles'.
(However Jim, if I still had my last IC- 781, I would never let it go!)
Between various personal 'challenges' I have not yet been able to get up an
antenna system that allows me to become serious in contest competition
again, although it does look like I won the GAQP recently (but a QP is a
rather confined contest.). But I've had my Orion now almost a year and my
new Titan 3 since December and am looking forward to the WPX contest to
really wring out the performance of this combination, even with my
limitation of only having an 80m dipole at the moment. Both the Orion and
the Titan 3 have so far proven to be very solid performers and my impression
is they both will show up well in the WPX. (It would be extremely helpful, I
think, to have v1.37 before the contest, but the beta testing should
prevail)
It's also interesting, I think, that neither the 7800 or the Yaesu new rigs
have tweeked my interest in the least, and will not, until some REAL
specifications have been released on both of those rigs. Like >40dBm really
means nothing unless you know how it's tested. I used to think the ARRL test
reports were 'shaded' by the quantity of advertising done in QST by specific
manufacturers, however I now feel certain the ARRL testing will be FAIR and
ACCURATE when it's posted. But, to me, an Icom or a Yaesu would have to be
SUBSTANTIALLY better than an Orion for me to even consider purchasing a
$10-$13k radio.
I certainly agree with Jim that the new Icom and the new Yaesu will boost
the sales of the Orion.
Tom - W4BQF
> Hello All,
>
> I have an FT-1000D and it is a great radio and will probably keep it.
>
> However, I also think that the ORION is a fabulous radio as well.
>
> >From what I have been able to determine so far is that the ORION
technology
> performance rivals either the ICOM
> 7800 or this future Yaesu $10K to $13K radio.............
>
> So, from a practical standpoint, and being a contester, I would have to
say
> that it is much more cost effective
> in the long run to buy either one or two ORIONs or to buy a single ORION
and
> a TITAN III amplifier as opposed to an ICOM 7800 or Yaesu FT 9000 DX, as
you
> probably will not be able to see much difference in performance.
>
> In fact, I think that the ICOM 7800s and new Yaesu rigs are going to
> probably boost the sales of the TEN TEC ORIONS even more............I am
> sure they will sell many ICOM 7800s and $10K Yaesu's to the hams with $$
to
> burn, however, the amount of ORIONS sold in the future is going to
increase
> as well..........
>
> Just some thoughts from a contester.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
> K4PV
>
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