Check out your power supply, the power wire to the radio and the connector
at the back of the Orion. You may be suffering from a voltage drop.
You should have at least a 25 amp supply - 30 is better.
The power wire that came with my Orion was wimpy - I think it was 6 feet of
14 gauge. I substituted the much beefier wire that came with my Argo V (go
figure they give you heavier wire with a 20 watt QRP rig). Depending on how
long, I would suggest 10 gauge.
The connector on the back of the Orion is a weak point. Mine got loosey
goosey on me. The pins in the jack on the radio have a split. Pry them apart
a
bit with a small screwdriver so the plug fits tighter. My plug actually got
black from arcing.
Also, high SWR can cause the display to wash out. Be sure you don't have an
SWR problem or RFI getting back into the radio - a choke balun or "line
isolator" on the coax going out of the radio may help.
Try changing your contrast control.
Bottom line - I think all Orions suffer from this. I find the washout is
more pronounced in ver 1 of the software. Ver 2 changed the contrast setting
and doesn't seem as bad - but I prefer 1.373b5 software so I live with the
screen flicker.
k4ia
Craig "Buck"
Fredericksburg, Virginia USA
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