Thanks, Scott, from a very satisfied and happy Orion owner.
I know of no other company that would take the time or make the effort to
respond as you have. I hope this will eliminated some of the dribble. I?m
getting tired of deleting emails.
I look forward to downloading the v2.0 firmware
Best wishes to you and Ten-Tec for great success with Orion II.
Scott K4VWK
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Ten-Tec Inc. Amateur Radio Sales" <sales@tentec.com>
Reply-To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 11:39:04 -0400
>OK - I've read all the commentary through the night and will address some of
>the various points brought up in emails I've read. I'm sure this isn't the
>end of
>the discussion yet....
>
>Regarding parts obsolescense: There is no 'checking the lifetime' of a
>component
>like the DragonBall processor. No electronic manufacturer provides a life
>expectancy for any particular component. The assumption made by all of us
>(rightly so) in the electronics industry is that the component
>manufacturing side
>of the business will continue to develop and offer new products - and we
>(companies
>that build equipment) use what meet our needs at present and then adjust to
>whatever the component suppliers offer for use when changes are made to
>their product lines. That's just a fact of life: new components are released,
>one ones obsoleted. We weren't 'duped' by Freescale - the expectation is that
>parts come and go and we adjust to it when needed.
>
>For each component, 3 or 4 months before its demise, an EOL (End-Of-Life)
>noticed is issued, notifying manufacturers that a given part is going away
>- and to
>make a final purchase based on needs for the future. This does NOT mean needs
>for production for the future, necessarily. It is not practical for a
>company like
>Ten-Tec to stock a lifetime supply for production and repair of any part,
>at any
>time. For production, we buy parts as needed. When a part is obsoleted, that
>is an indicaton to a manufacturer than engineering time needs to be expended to
>identify a solution for a given product using this part, and to make
>provisions to
>buy parts for final production runs and future repair purposes.
>
>The DragonBall was EOLed some time ago. When we began design work on
>the Orion in 2001, that was the "part du jour". It now is discontinued and
>has a
>replacement - the DragonBall Super VZ. We have repair parts available for
>the original processor.
>
>Skip to the next part: What, then, are the options
>available? Resdesigning the
>logic board in the Orion to accomodate the Super VZ chip, and then raising the
>price of the transceiver to cover the costs, and then watching as the Orion
>matured was one option. The other option was if the control processor is going
>to have to be changed, then this is the correct time for us to make
>additions or
>changes to the transceiver at the same time. Which is what has been done.
>
>DSP code non-release: DSP code is the heart of every product that we and
>other companies build and to make it available to everyone, including companies
>that compete with us, is not practical. There is a serious investment made in
>developing it - and it cannot be given away.
>
>The DragonBall processor in the original Orion is up to the task of
>accomodating
>all the functionality of the transceiver itself. I got a private email
>yesterday that
>included the comment that "Ten-Tec has never admitted that the DragonBall
>is underpowered..." - there is nothing to admit. The "DragonBall is
>underpowered"
>discussion started as rumor grist mill on chatter on the Internet and has
>continued
>to this day. What I have said before - and will say again, is that perhaps we
>haven't used the DragonBall to its full capability...hence the v2.0 of the
>firmware.
>
>I don't think the announcement we made yesterday was completely understood,
>so I'll repeat it word for word again:
>
>New 32-bit control processor using the latest generation Freescale
>DragonBall Super VZ chip. Provides faster front panel control response and
>accelerated remote operation via RS-232. This new processor also provides
>the horsepower for a future planned "HIGH SPEED SWEEP" accessory. Features,
>price and availability of accessory to be determined.
>
>All-new firmware from the ground up. DSP code is refined, crafted and
>compacted to levels unimaginable even two years ago. Provides faster
>(stock) sweep with finer resolution, enhanced DSP automatic notch and DSP
>noise reduction.
>
>The Super VZ processor only buys a little bit faster response time off of
>the front panel and via RS-232. Of the myriad of things that have been
>discussed about the Orion over the past two years, speed of response from
>controls on the rig and how fast the RS-232 interface runs are not something
>that has come up time and again to be discussed. That's what the Super VZ
>buys you over the original DragonBall. No improved receiver performance,
>radio performance, etc.
>
>The faster sweep scope and DSP enhancements are firmware. I've been
>alpha testing the v2.0 of the original Orion code - the sweep scope is
>definitely
>faster than in the original version of the transceiver.
>
>The gist of it is this: The color screen aside, this is an incremental
>upgrade in
>rigs from the Orion to the Orion II. Nothing earth-shattering....no paradigm
>shift. The basic performance - specs - of the transceiver are essentially
>unchanged.
>
>-------
>
>Next:
>
>There was little advance announcement of the Orion II. This is in character
>with previous announcements about new products from Ten-Tec. What was
>out of character for us was to have announced the coming of the original
>Orion nearly a year before we were shipping them. This, frankly, was a mistake
>because much time was expended explaining features and functionality and
>possible delivery of a transceiver that didn't even exist at the time it was
>announced. It taxed the resources of the customer service operation at
>Ten-Tec greatly and we agreed in the aftermath that we would have to go back
>to what we'd done previously: no announcements of new products well in
>advance of an anticipated delivery date.
>
>--------
>
>Next:
>
>Trade-in values presently are $2200 for the 565, $2500 for the 565AT.
>
>--------
>
>Next:
>
>8 pin mic connector. We have discussed off and on for years going to an 8 pin
>microphone connector to standardize with the other manufacturers in Amateur
>Radio. We've stuck with the 4 pin mic connector for no other reason than
>allowing
>current Ten-Tec owners to be able to continue to use their current microphones.
>Unfortunately, there is no standardization to the wiring of 8 pin mic
>connectors
>in current ham rigs so we had to pick a configuration - the Orion II mic
>jack will
>use the same pin out as current Yaesu transceivers. No plans to add functions
>like UP/DOWN through the mic jack. Adaptors to adapt a 4 pin mic to the 8 pin
>jack will be available from us.
>
>--------
>
>Continuing to watch the discussion.
>
>Thanks
>
>Scott Robbins W4PA
>Amateur Radio Product Manager, Ten-Tec, Inc.
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Ten-Tec, Inc., 1185 Dolly Parton Pkwy, Sevierville, TN 37862 USA
> Contact Mon-Fri Eastern: Office/Tech (865) 453-7172 9 am-5 pm.
> Repair (865) 428-0364 8-4. Sales (800) 833-7373 9 am-5:30 pm.
> Fax (865) 428-4483 24 hrs. Visit us at <http://www.tentec.com>
> Email: New product sales/product info sales@tentec.com
> Service department service@tentec.com
> While we make every effort to answer email in an expedient manner,
> the telephone is a much more efficient tool for getting a quicker and
> more complete answer to your inquiries. Thanks!
>
>
>
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