Orion Tuning Rates ...
>The Orion is no different with respect to tuning steps than any other
>synthesized radio. If you tune with a 10 hertz step, you are going to jump
>by 10 hertz. This is normal and all synthesized radios do it. 10 hertz
>does not sound at all steppy to me.
I spent some time with the Orion at TenTec this week ... and the FIRST
thing I noticed when on CW was the "stepping" ... it sounded like the
old Icom R-70 ... step, step, step ... Note that the TS930, the IC765, nor
the MPs here now, did/do NOT act in such a manner ...
So why does a ultra-high end $3.3k-$3.6k radio have to sound like this?
<BTW, I ended using the 10 Hz step for tuning around also>
Other Thoughts ...
At time goes on, we are seeing the compromises that EVERY piece
of equipment has, even the Orion ... they ALL have warts and wrinkles.
Does NOT mean the Orion is a poor design. Not at all, but there's NO
perfect radio out there, just like cars, TVs, <you fill in the blank here>.
Some of the Orion's design is simply "catch up" ... like having a
MONITOR, or a second receiver. Those were long overdue even
for the Omni VI platform.
Much of the new switching/etc. looks great on paper, but no one
seems to have captured ALL of the potential yet into a workable
model. Not yet at least. Maybe NT1Y will be the 1st one who will ...
The sub-rcvr is very much like the sub-rcvr in many other offerings,
<review the posts on this forum this past week for "numbers">. It's
not a bad design and with the unique DSP features, could prove
to be more useful than some of the others, but "the others" having
a sub-rcvr is a standard features in top tier models for years now.
The reality here is that for split operation, most are going to be using
the MAIN for rcve, and the SUB for spotting where to xmit, so you do
not need the same level of receiver performance in the sub-rcvr. And
I believe Ten Tec took the right route here as to cost/benefit tradeoffs.
Where the Orion may blaze or push the edge is in the MAIN receiver,
and that's where I spent my time tweaking/turning/twisting many of the
options the op has to use for pulling out only the station they want. Key
here is for the op to understand ALL that they can control on receive.
They seem to have taken the best of the Kenwood HIGH/LOW type
bandpass and combined this with Icom's PBT/IF Shift ... into a VERY
workable package ... that, with not having to stop and manually add in
or remove additional filters ... results in a VERY user friendly setup.
That was my #1 takeaway from using the Orion on 20m &15m CW
with the wire antennas in place there since the loss of their tower.
It was like having the best QRM/QRN busting features of the various
top tier rigs I have owned or used over the past years ... in 1 box. As
each design has it's strong and weak points, but now you can, to a
degree, pick and choose what "tools" you want to use ... well done!
But head and shoulders above everything else out there 95 to 99%
of the time? I don't think so ... but before I get blasted <again> ...
Now for that 1 to 5% of the time, when you want every possible "tool"
at your fingertips ... the question starts to get serious thought ... like
N1EU or W4ZV mention, 160m tends to be a "field of <rcvr> horrors".
I did not try the sweep <has little or no value to me right now>, nor
did I try to change any of the DSP or AGC settings ... as I realized
those require a much deeper understanding of how they function.
What I did accomplish ... was walk in "off the street", sit down, and
be able to use the Orion ... without a manual, but with a good basic
understanding of how receivers work. With that the Orion did FB.
For the items I didn't like, and there were several, as EVERY piece
of equipment has + & - <and since March 26th, the Orion firmware
has roughly 160 stated revisions to date>, I have sent my comments
directly to W4PA as a $3.6k rig should not have some of the issues
being discussed on this forum. The good news here, is if you go back
and review the list of issues already addressed ... the probability is very
high that many more can also be suitably addressed in a timely manner.
The Orion/SDR/DSP/etc. all represent changes in paradigms that all of
us <including you and me> have to slow down to visit as to what are the
possible benefits, as well as what changes do we as end users have to
make in our preferences, to fully realize all of the stated advantages ...
Listening to "stepping" on the CW notes in order to have better overall
receiver performance may be an example of what I just described above.
Season's Greetings to ALL,
73 Billy AA4NU
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