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Re: [TenTec] Orion II vs Orion

To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II vs Orion
From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
Reply-to: Ron Castro <ronc@sonic.net>, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 18:24:38 -0800
List-post: <mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
Duane:

I noticed most of what you did, although I have never played with an "original" Orion. I alerted Ten Tec to the sound in the headphones on CW last week, and they are looking into it.

I also noticed the NR problem, but had nothing to compare it to. The NR on my old TS-870 had the same problem, but if it worked well in the O1, it can probably be restored in a later update on the O2. I never use NR anyway.

A ferrite loop cured the headphone RF problem, which I only noticed when running 1.5 kW on 10 meters with the beam pointed right over the shack, just 45 feet from the radiating element. It might work for 2-meters, but I don't run 2-meter packet.

Five days running the radio 8-12 hours per day and not a single crash, jam-up, slow-down or any other 'squirrelly situation!

Ron Castro
Chief Technical Officer
Results Radio, LLC


----- Original Message ----- From: "Duane A Calvin" <ac5aa@juno.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: <Orion@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Orion II vs Orion


I've had a chance to play with a friend's Orion II for a couple of days -
just pulled my Orion out and plugged his in.  I've noticed a couple of
things other than the striking new display.  Does anyone else notice that
the DSP in 2.028 is not only a lot more aggressive than the earlier Orion
versions, but also has a rough edge to it?  It almost sounds
overprocessed as if it's clipping somewhere.  It's hard to describe, but
very noticeable with headphones on.

Second, when I do CW with headphones on, I thought - "Oh, my gosh, listen
to that relay racket!  Must be what I've seen some guys write about."
So, off come the headphones, and there is no relay noise at all from the
rig.  Yep, it's a light "tick" at the start and end of every CW element
coming thru the headphones.  It's barely audible thru the speaker, but
noticeable with the headphones - not really annoying, tho.  The only
other negative I found was that my 2m packet transmitter which bothers
nothing else in the house except my PC speaker subwoofer, is being picked
up by the headphone cord and is very audible in the receive audio.
Weird.  Maybe it's a peculiar time/space relationship, but neither my
Omni VI+ or my classic Orion has this problem.

On the positive side, the scope and NR now appear to run flawlessly
together, and, have I mentioned how nice the color display looks?  Oh,
the Ten-Tec auto tuner is quieter than the LDG that I think I have in
mine, and the tuning algorithm in it appears to spend more time
converging on the lowest SWR.  Overall time is about the same, but the
sequencing is a bit different.  There is a fix in the works (2.030) for
the monitor problem, but I haven't tried it.  (it works on my Orion too,
but is a little weak.)

Auto-Notch is incredibly fast now, and all else that I've used seems to
work just like the Orion classic.  It will be interesting to see how Ver
2.x works on the original Orion when it's released.

       73,  Duane


On Sun, 5 Feb 2006 18:13:37 -0500 "David Hammond" <dhhdeh@concentric.net>
writes:
Hey Guys,

Since I started this thread, can I ask that we refocus
again onto the pluses and minuses of the Orion II?

What else besides AM has 2.028 corrupted? Anything?

Any insight as to what the new release will be
changing?

Does the 'MON' function work on the Orion II?

73 de Dave-N1LQ



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--------------------------------------
Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas

http://home.austin.rr.com/ac5aa
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