Scott,
Thanks for the update. When you made the announcement I looked at
Motorola's original announcement of the Dragonball Super VX, published
in June of 2001. They announced that the processor would be available
in 1st quarter of 2002. Buddy Broeker with Motorola stated that they
expected a two year overlap of the Super VX and their MX1 with
manufacturers using both. That indicates that the Dragonball Super VX
may be near its EOL. Since the cores are different the MX1 (ARM vs.
68k) would not be software compatible. Is there an upgrade path with
the 68k core?
Thanks,
Barry
KD5VC
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ten-Tec Inc. Amateur
Radio Sales
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:39 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II
OK - I've read all the commentary through the night and will address
some of
the various points brought up in emails I've read. I'm sure this isn't
the
end of
the discussion yet....
Regarding parts obsolescense: There is no 'checking the lifetime' of a
component
like the DragonBall processor. No electronic manufacturer provides a
life
expectancy for any particular component. The assumption made by all of
us
(rightly so) in the electronics industry is that the component
manufacturing side
of the business will continue to develop and offer new products - and we
(companies
that build equipment) use what meet our needs at present and then adjust
to
whatever the component suppliers offer for use when changes are made to
their product lines. That's just a fact of life: new components are
released,
one ones obsoleted. We weren't 'duped' by Freescale - the expectation
is that
parts come and go and we adjust to it when needed.
For each component, 3 or 4 months before its demise, an EOL
(End-Of-Life)
noticed is issued, notifying manufacturers that a given part is going
away
- and to
make a final purchase based on needs for the future. This does NOT mean
needs
for production for the future, necessarily. It is not practical for a
company like
Ten-Tec to stock a lifetime supply for production and repair of any
part,
at any
time. For production, we buy parts as needed. When a part is
obsoleted, that
is an indicaton to a manufacturer than engineering time needs to be
expended to
identify a solution for a given product using this part, and to make
provisions to
buy parts for final production runs and future repair purposes.
The DragonBall was EOLed some time ago. When we began design work on
the Orion in 2001, that was the "part du jour". It now is discontinued
and
has a
replacement - the DragonBall Super VZ. We have repair parts available
for
the original processor.
Skip to the next part: What, then, are the options
available? Resdesigning the
logic board in the Orion to accomodate the Super VZ chip, and then
raising the
price of the transceiver to cover the costs, and then watching as the
Orion
matured was one option. The other option was if the control processor
is going
to have to be changed, then this is the correct time for us to make
additions or
changes to the transceiver at the same time. Which is what has been
done.
DSP code non-release: DSP code is the heart of every product that we
and
other companies build and to make it available to everyone, including
companies
that compete with us, is not practical. There is a serious investment
made in
developing it - and it cannot be given away.
The DragonBall processor in the original Orion is up to the task of
accomodating
all the functionality of the transceiver itself. I got a private email
yesterday that
included the comment that "Ten-Tec has never admitted that the
DragonBall
is underpowered..." - there is nothing to admit. The "DragonBall is
underpowered"
discussion started as rumor grist mill on chatter on the Internet and
has
continued
to this day. What I have said before - and will say again, is that
perhaps we
haven't used the DragonBall to its full capability...hence the v2.0 of
the
firmware.
I don't think the announcement we made yesterday was completely
understood,
so I'll repeat it word for word again:
New 32-bit control processor using the latest generation Freescale
DragonBall Super VZ chip. Provides faster front panel control response
and
accelerated remote operation via RS-232. This new processor also
provides
the horsepower for a future planned "HIGH SPEED SWEEP" accessory.
Features,
price and availability of accessory to be determined.
All-new firmware from the ground up. DSP code is refined, crafted and
compacted to levels unimaginable even two years ago. Provides faster
(stock) sweep with finer resolution, enhanced DSP automatic notch and
DSP
noise reduction.
The Super VZ processor only buys a little bit faster response time off
of
the front panel and via RS-232. Of the myriad of things that have been
discussed about the Orion over the past two years, speed of response
from
controls on the rig and how fast the RS-232 interface runs are not
something
that has come up time and again to be discussed. That's what the Super
VZ
buys you over the original DragonBall. No improved receiver
performance,
radio performance, etc.
The faster sweep scope and DSP enhancements are firmware. I've been
alpha testing the v2.0 of the original Orion code - the sweep scope is
definitely
faster than in the original version of the transceiver.
The gist of it is this: The color screen aside, this is an incremental
upgrade in
rigs from the Orion to the Orion II. Nothing earth-shattering....no
paradigm
shift. The basic performance - specs - of the transceiver are
essentially
unchanged.
-------
Next:
There was little advance announcement of the Orion II. This is in
character
with previous announcements about new products from Ten-Tec. What was
out of character for us was to have announced the coming of the original
Orion nearly a year before we were shipping them. This, frankly, was a
mistake
because much time was expended explaining features and functionality and
possible delivery of a transceiver that didn't even exist at the time it
was
announced. It taxed the resources of the customer service operation at
Ten-Tec greatly and we agreed in the aftermath that we would have to go
back
to what we'd done previously: no announcements of new products well in
advance of an anticipated delivery date.
--------
Next:
Trade-in values presently are $2200 for the 565, $2500 for the 565AT.
--------
Next:
8 pin mic connector. We have discussed off and on for years going to an
8 pin
microphone connector to standardize with the other manufacturers in
Amateur
Radio. We've stuck with the 4 pin mic connector for no other reason
than
allowing
current Ten-Tec owners to be able to continue to use their current
microphones.
Unfortunately, there is no standardization to the wiring of 8 pin mic
connectors
in current ham rigs so we had to pick a configuration - the Orion II mic
jack will
use the same pin out as current Yaesu transceivers. No plans to add
functions
like UP/DOWN through the mic jack. Adaptors to adapt a 4 pin mic to the
8 pin
jack will be available from us.
--------
Continuing to watch the discussion.
Thanks
Scott Robbins W4PA
Amateur Radio Product Manager, Ten-Tec, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ten-Tec, Inc., 1185 Dolly Parton Pkwy, Sevierville, TN 37862 USA
Contact Mon-Fri Eastern: Office/Tech (865) 453-7172 9 am-5 pm.
Repair (865) 428-0364 8-4. Sales (800) 833-7373 9 am-5:30 pm.
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Email: New product sales/product info sales@tentec.com
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While we make every effort to answer email in an expedient manner,
the telephone is a much more efficient tool for getting a quicker and
more complete answer to your inquiries. Thanks!
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