I think that all of this defending the Orion points out two things about us
hams. First, no matter what radio we own, since it is on our desk, it IS by far
the best radio ever built, bar none, by any manufacturer. Otherwise why would
be we dumb enough to put out our hard earned bucks to buy something that is no
good? And second and more positive, the loyalty being shown to Ten Tec has come
from years of just superior customer support that is still being exhibited by
Ten Tec.
Knocking Icom/Kenwood/Yaesu does nothing toward getting our radio to perform at
the basic level that a radio should perform. As far as getting a different
manufacturers radio to work, that was, and still is something we, as hams, used
to do ourselves. I modified an IC-781 to reduce the RF spike its ALC
generated; I modified an FT-1k MP to improve the rcvr noise; I modifed an Omni
6 by replacing it's PIN diodes with HP PIN diodes, etc., etc. That was/is just
part of the hobby and it is something we, as hams, used to enjoy doing.
We praise the Orion, partly because some of it's technical numbers are 2 or 4
dB better than the $10K+ radios, but actually to the normal ham, those 2 or 4
dB numbers mean nothing in our every day work and are primarily useful in
contest or strong signal environments. To me, the significant advance that is
in the Orion is the ability to select roofing filters, something that the more
technical hams have been begging manufacturers to do for a long time. It is
forcing others to look at doing the same thing for the I/K/Y radios. Some folks
are going to be pretty shocked with this 'numbers game' when some more recent
modifications and/or 'upgrades' to the I/K/Y radios are announced soon, and
the Orion will no longer have the best in the 'numbers game'. But then, that is
called progress, or in our terms, upgrades.
And while this is all wonderful, for me personally, it is getting rather
long-in-the-tooth to have put out $3500 over a year ago for the 'dream'
contesting radio that I have had work flawless for me for one whole weekend (in
the CQ WPX contest). While the remainder of the time, it's just touch and go as
to whether or not with the next dit transmitted am I going to lose RF output
power or am I going to lose rcvr audio. While firmware updates are a wonderful
thing to know that is coming down the pike, when I put out my hard earned bucks
for a 'dream radio', I certainly do expect it to function as a basic radio,
which the Orion does not. Before you want to argue this last statement, hook
up your o'scope and look at the transmitted CW rise and fall time when you have
the menu set at the various rise time settings available. You will be shocked
and in my case, unhappy. We need a firmware update to FIX this? NOT!
When I took my Omni 6 out of the box in 1992, I put that radio on my operating
desk where it got thousands of hours of operation, rag chews, DX chasing,
contesting, digital, etc., and the thing worked flawless for the many years I
operated it. And that is what we expect from any radio we buy. That 12 years of
flawless Omni 6 operation is the ONLY thing that is keeping my Orion on my
operating desk. Because after a year of use, I am still waiting for the basics
of the Orion to function properly.
Tom - W4BQF
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