Guys,
I would not, as a matter of course, get into this sort of a discussion as I
fear it goes nowhere, but after a night on the beer I can't help but say my
tiny little bit, for whatever or not it might be worth, and to me that
really is miniscule. But here's the thing, when the Orion was launched all
those years ago much was made of it being truly a software radio, a radio
that Ten Tec would keep current and up to date no matter what, since it was
after all 'only software'. The hardware would live on and the owner of the
Orion could rest easy knowing that the great resources of a good American
company would always back and support 'their' product. How many I wonder
bought Orion on that sort of an understanding, believing and trusting that
the manufacturer would support and IMPROVE on the basic radio, knowing it
might be flawed initially but truly believing that it would be updated to be
kept at the very top of the table. How well were they sold.
Of course it should have been clear from the time of O II what the real
intentions were, and a few caught on to that but many it seems did not.
Here's another thing, they only want your money, but don't say that too loud
or you might start believing it yourself.
For the record, I own an Orion, it's good, very good, not great but good. It
has quirks, it has limitations, some that even my aging TS940 bettered but
still it's a nice radio. I bought my Orion long after it was discontinued so
I knew what I was getting and maybe from that perspective it looks different
but I'd still like to see updates, less so, though not entirely for the
basic performance, which I think is already reasonably good but the stupid
crappy nasty display that annoys me. Just because in this day there is no
need for a 1980's calculator approach to the crappy layout and organisation,
what a mess, they can't even line up different text fields and trying to
read it in a full on split frequency DX nailing effort leaves me struggling.
Small letters, big letters, left side, right side, which vfo, where's the
transmitter, sub on or not? Don't even get me going about the less than auto
ATU or the dodgy power supply requirements or the fact that the noise
blanker only works with wide roofers, or the weird menus and odd audio, or
lack of comprehensive metering. No wonder it cost less than an IC7800, it's
worth-less by direct comparison. But I do still like it and I'd love it to
be a real radio, sadly I doubt it ever will, and whilst there will no doubt
be endless continual crying over the milk already spilt the Orion will
forever be the radio that 'could have been'. Updates or not.
Martin, HS0ZED
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Mr Mike
Sent: 26 February 2009 18:46
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Open Sourcing
Considering the amount of whining, sobbing, and stomping over software
updates that don''t come out on the day they were rumored 3rd hand to be due
out, I don't think TT would want to deal with the additional headache of
people complaining to TT about software they did not write.
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