On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 K4IA@aol.com wrote:
> I thought the QST article was really unfair. Most QST reviews are so
> gooey-gushy positive you have to read between the lines to get a hint of
> the truth.
Despite the code issues the receiver is excellent and better than the
ARRL's other advertisers' radios - so much better that they felt like they
had room to run it down to not overly embarass their other advertisers.
You wouldn't have to work too hard to convince me that the general mindset
was that the Orion II is one of the finest radios they've ever tested but
it makes their other customers look a little glum so some negativity was
allowed - nope, you wouldn't have to try too hard to get me to believe
that.
ARRL isn't going to alienate themselves from ICOM, Yaesu or Kenwood and as
another person mentioned on the list, Rick Lindquist probably doesn't use
much TenTec gear and may be accustomed to glossy black cabinets made by
other companies. Who knows - I don't, I've never met the guy. Either
way, ARRL gets my dues to help battle BPL, and World Radio magazine gets
my money to read about Hams being on the air both at home and far-away
places.
TenTec blazes their own trail - unlike the Big Three (ICOM, Yaesu,
Kenwood) their designs are unique and don't follow the traditional look
and feel like all of their competitors follow.
Perhaps if TenTec's radios were all colored black and used a brushed
anodized aluminum front panel and cabinet the Orion would have gotten a
better review. This has to mean a lot to a lot of people given the number
of sideband ops that are using graphic equalizers, mixing boards, $1000+
high fidelity studio-quality microphones for a 3KHz wide low fidelity
audio transmission. But hey, it keeps the economy rolling!
--
73 Jason N1SU
http://n1su.com/
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