Ummm, Rob, I would honestly wonder about that. I suspect that within a few
minutes, the operators would become accustomed enough to the Orion that it
wouldn't be a problem, especially if they are semi-experienced operators.
A few months ago, W3WH was kind enough to let me run his Orion for a few
hours at his shack. Did I figure out every nuance of the rig in a few short
hours? Of course not. Did I figure out enough to change bands, modes, and
set the keyer speed? You betcha, and it didn't take very long.
I suspect that the real reason is that many ASSUME (that dangerous word)
that changing rigs would be a challenge or a headache, therefore they stay
with the old tried & true. But realistically, especially if you're using
the same contest software program as you have in the past, I suspect that
learning to use a different rig should be a minor blip. (And if you're
really worried about it, then invite the ops over ahead of time and give
them a chance to learn the radio!)
73, ron wn3vaw
"People hear what they want to hear,
And Disregard the Rest..."
"The Boxer," Simon & Garfunkel, 1970
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: <k5uj@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 6:35 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Choice of rigs for contests
<<<...And the main reason has nothing to do with
performance. It's familiarity. These folks depend on a bunch of volunteer
ops descending on their QTH for a weekend of work/play. The only rigs the
various ops know by heart are those MPs. If a contest station suddenly
presented these volunteers with a bunch of nifty new software-driven rigs
to play with, there would be pandemonium as they tried to learn it in a few
hours/minutes. So I think, oddly, the last people to switch over to
superior, modern equipment like the ORION or the forthcoming IC-7800 will
be these "big guns.">>>
You have probably hit on a reason. When I attempted to operate an Orion I
found it very difficult to figure out. Many front panel bits of information
were cryptic and unintuitive which kind of surprised me since the Omni VI is
a breeze--it practically operates itself. I can imagine that would be a
problem at first, at a multi-multi station with a lot of guest ops. If the
7800 is easy to figure out without a lot of manual study time it may wind up
in some shacks, assuming the performance is there.
Rob Atkinson
K5UJ
_________________________________________________________________
Compare high-speed Internet plans, starting at $26.95.
https://broadband.msn.com (Prices may vary by service area.)
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|