fraz1 wrote:
Al, FWIW, I agree that TT has work to do for their original Orion and Orion
II customers. If they do not plan any additional revisions or upgrades,
they should clearly state so.
I have lost some confidence in their advertising claims and commitment to
customers. I view the firmware issues as part of their whole customer
service/repair package.
Maybe I just don't get it. I'm able to work very weak DX stations on
160m while they are snuggled up right next to a loud W station CQing. I
can pick signals out of whopping QRN on the lower bands. I can hear
whispers of signals on 10m. I've adjusted my AGC settings so that I
have no distorted, harsh audio.
I've been using V2 software with no glitches. I've made the sweep mod.
The only problem I had recently is that my display was slow to come up
and took a while to reach full brightness and contrast. I was dreading
the loss of the display. A quick telephone call to Ten-Tec service
resulted in a tech walking me through a couple of possibilities.
Following the free advice I received, I was able to pinpoint the problem
to caps in the power distribution board. My Orion is now functioning
normally and no shipment to the factory was needed.
Ten-Tec long ago addressed issues which I found important to me. I've
received quite a number of free firmware upgrades. I imagine that
there'll be more in the future. If there are never any further updates,
I won't be unhappy.
I've looked at the specs on the Sherwood site and they confirm what I've
long felt about the receive capabilities of my rig. I don't plan to
replace my Orion for a long time.
If I'd been the purchaser of an IC-7800 or an FTDX-9000 and it didn't
beat the specs of a much lower priced U.S. rig, I might be inclined to
feel that I'd been had. I don't fee that way about my Orion.
Is it just possible that some of us expect too much from a manufacturer?
Dave Heil K8MN
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