Yes the Orion doesn’t have all the bells it does have the whistle! I do like
the way it handles 160 . Turn down gain 1/2 or so and signals weak and strong
sound great.
Yes the Orion is showing it’s age! But it was the best radio out there for
years! Maybe there are better radios now but not many and none for the price of
a used Orion
Myself I use 4 different radios each has there high and low ‘s . I think
radios are a lot like antennas , one can never have to many !
What will be interesting is seeing where the radio manufacturers go from here
. Icom has changed the game with the 7300 (sold thousands!) a good radio that
does a lot of things good . What will Yaesu Kenwood and the others bring out?
There’s a small market for $6000 radios( Flex Elecraft and the other flag
ships) or will the manufacturers slowly have sales go down (because of brand
loyalty )
There might be fewer manufacturers in 5 years , there will thousands of used
7300 where those owner might want to up grade. There are just a few new Ham
getting in to this sport and a lot of us are old. So probably less Radio sales
,less money , less manufacturers to build less radio . Maybe I better get
another Orion !
Byron AC9PA
Sent from my iPad
> On Jul 27, 2018, at 2:12 PM, Keith Hanson <ac9s@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I purchased an OII at Dayton the first year they came out and couldn't have
> been more happy. It was fully loaded including the remote pod and served me
> well for many years. The only thing it appeared to lack was a reasonable
> panadapter / waterfall display which Ten Tec faithfully promised me year
> after year at Dayton and never delivered. I would have been happy with the
> equivalent of my 756Pro display, but it never appeared. However, time
> marches; I replaced the OII in the main position with a Flex 6700 /
> Maestrocombination several years ago and relegated the Orion to back-up duty.
>
> Honestly, with the exception of AGC slope, I find the Flex to be superior in
> every respect. I have done numerous A/B comparisons and I don't think there
> was ever a time when the Orion receiver would have delivered better than the
> Flex. The Flex Panafall display, a combination panadapter / waterfall, makes
> pile-ups easy and is wonderful on "dead" bands. I rarely listen to the
> "split" anymore in a pile-up, I can tell where DX is listening by spreading
> the pile-up across the entire screen and seeing calling stations. Plus the
> ability to look at all the bands simultaneously during a contest changes that
> part of the equation.
>
> Bottom line for me now is that although I have lobbied for on OIII for years
> I don't think I would buy one if it were offered - unless somehow it were to
> beat Flex SmartSDR at its game. That is doubtful, but I'll keep an open mind.
>
> Keith - AC9S
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