The Orion actually has 2 separate receivers. The main
receiver is the well known super RX for which the
Orion is well known. The second RX in the Orion is
somewhat inferior in its design. The Orion has an
advanced switching system that allows for 2 antennas
to be separately connected to the receivers or they
can be attached to the same antenna. There are 2
knobs, one each that controls each receiver, and 2
displays. Things like bandwidth and PBT are
independently variable in the Orion. The audio codec
has multiple variations in its control that allows
both to both ears or a right and left or some mix of
the two. Since you have in dependant receivers you
can listen cross band. The transmitter can be linked
to either of the receivers for transmitting. Except
for the weakness of the second receiver the Orion does
dual receive pretty well.
In the SDR-1000 there are 2 software receivers that
are created in the passband of the soundcard. This
limits the coverage of the second receiver to +- 1/2
the BW. The SDR does not have as extensive audio
control as does the Orion, but you can pan each
channel to either ear or both ears. The present
iteration of the SDR uses the same bandwidth and mode
PBT etc for each receiver. The transmitter can be
linked to either of the VFO's. Each receiver has the
famous SDR point and click tuning. It does not have
independent antenna choice like the Orion. My
impression is the SDR implementation gives a majority
of the bread and butter functionality that you get
from the Orion but it does not implement the more
exotic things you can do with the Orion like spatial
dual diversity. The new SDR-x offering is slated to
have much more of the functionality the Orion now
possesses, and it will likely have greater exotic
performance since it will be able to do things the
Orion can't.
My experience is that for common pile-ups and tail
ending the SDR does all you need. It's not hard to
put a relay in line for adding a second antenna. This
will not get you dual diversity but it will give you
independent antennas, that you can chose from the
relay control panel in the software similar to the
push-button arrangement in the Orion.
I can do dual diversity with my SDR setup, since I
bought a second SDR and soundcard. I added a 3
channel stereo mixer and I have as much control over
the audio as the Orion gives me. Counting computer,
display, 2 sdr's, 2 soundcards, and the mixer I have
less invested than a new Orion-2 and filters
73 W9OY
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