Whew, whose radio do you have, Merle? Certainly not the ones I use.
I bought my OI over a year ago specifically because of its contesting
capability. I sold, reluctantly, my FT1000D, which still has, for a
ricebox, the best front end ever. The Orion far exceeds it. Period. I
have been so happy with my Orion that instead of trading it in on an OII, I
sold my Icom ProII instead, and kept the Orion and bought the OII, too.
Granted, the v2. firmware has some problems, but I'm still running 1.372 and
that's just fine for my uses. I've never had a radio, at any price, that
can touch either Orion for narrow BW work, as in working S&P in a contest,
(or weak signal dx work) and when I open things up to 750 or 1K Hz for
runnning, I only hear what's in that band width and nothing else. What could
be better. The only thing that really bugs me on CW is other people's key
clicks which can penetrate 3" of armor plating like a uranium warhead...but,
I digress.
I work QSK at 35wpm or faster in contests, with absolutely no problems. My
amp follows the radio perfectly hour after hour. I'm fairly anal about cw
transmit and receive, and I've got nothing but good things to say about how
both of mine work with my QSK amps.
As for the OII, it's even better. I just do not understand what you're
talking about, Merle. I'm a dxer and contester of over 25 years, and I have
yet to find a better contest radio. I have worked from multi-multi contest
stations with every radio combination you can imagine, and I still will take
my Orion, either of them, over anything else I've used.
OK...one man's opinion, but I'm hooked. Maybe someone has to come here and
sit in my shack and show me all these shortcomings, but I sure don't
experience them. I guess you're referring to v2 firmware, which I've tried,
as well, but think the Orion with v1.xxx firmware is just fine for my uses.
Hope they someday live up to your expectations, but half the fun of owning
these radios is the ongoing growth and change that is just unavailable from
any other manufacturer. If one wants a radio whose parameters are all
decided for you, they're available. I for one am enjoying the ride.
Larry, N0XB
----- Original Message -----
From: "Merle Bone" <merlebone@charter.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 9:17 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Great Contest Radio?
> KC9CDT said:
> "Yes, it is already a great contest radio IMHO. Just needs some additional
> tweeking."
>
> Lee,
> I think you must have "low expectations" for a "great contest radio?"
> With the V2 code display being useless in contesting, the QSK not working
> over 20WPM, the Notch and Auto-notch filters not removing the signals from
> the AGC bandpass - so those signals still pump the AGC even though they
> are not audible - and other real problems - it is hard for me to view the
> V2 Orion (Or Orion II) as a "great contest radio." It is also hard for me
> to consider these problems "tweaks." I am hopeful that the V2 code will
> be significantly improved - so it has the functionality and performance of
> the V1 code, but with improved stability. However, given the fact that
> TenTec has worked on the Orion firmware for over 2 years to get here, I am
> really glad I can run the V1 code.
> 73,
> Merle-W0EWM
>
> _______________________________________________
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> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
>
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