"the Orion is the first of a new breed of radios wherein software is
an intergal part of its operation ability."
What about the old Pegasus? Software played a big role in it's operation
ability. Then the Jupiter. Same thing. Not to mention Argo V plus all their
receivers for the past several years. I've just come to the conclusion that
the Orion's CPU just can't keep up which results in glitches, bugs and the
appearance that no 2 Orion's work the same.
I certainly see no reason to berate someone simply because they expect a
$3,600 rig to work right out of the box.
I, as much as anyone want the Orion to succeed. I waited a full year before
buying one only to be plagued with multiple firmware problems right from the
beginning. When posting anything about the bugs, some folks would take it as
a personal attack instead of trying to help. As for the Eham review, I
really can't blame the poor guy because I've been through the same thing he
has. The difference was , he held out longer than I did. After 2 weeks of
fighting the bugs, I sent mine back. We should all understand this and not
try to belittle someone who's frustration finally got the best of them. BTW,
I am very acquainted with computer glitches. I've worked in an IT
department for the past 27 years! I've supported every version of dos, OS2
and Windows. The Orion made me feel like I was still at work.
I am certainly thankful for TenTec's 30 day trial policy although it did
take 2 emails, phone call and 3 weeks before they finally credited my VISA.
No explanation was given for that bit of poor service. I say this just to
warn folks that a refund may not always be timely.
As for reviews on Eham. Yes, they are not always very technical but at least
they are not influenced by advertising like some of the magazines. I've
found the reviews to be more help than harm.
Now as for my "opinion" of the Orion: I had AM/BC radio stations breaking
through all over 160 and 80 meters. I had to install an external BC filter
from ICE to reduce these. None of my other receivers exhibit this problem
except for my Triton IV. The DSP filters were quiet broad compared to my
Pro2. I read every article, link and comment about how great the adjustable
AGC was and how to adjust it but in every instance, the Pro2 was much better
when it came to pulling weak signals out of the noise. 2 weeks of A/B
testing proved this to me. I flipped that A/B switch so many times that the
knob actually fell off (seriously). The band scope is worthless, if not
counterproductive since it's a known cpu hog. QSK was dog slow and tended to
produce audio clicks. As for BDR, I had a very hard time trying to find
enough QRM to test this. I did not have any optional roofing filters in my
Orion. The QST review states that the 500hz roofing filter actually caused
poorer performance so why bother with it? The LCD display took about 2 hours
to really get warmed up. In the meantime, the characters would blur when
tuning the vfo. There seems to be some heat issues with that display. So
what did I like? Not a lot. I did like the large size of the radio and wish
they were all this big. I did like the loud KURRRRCLUNK when you turn it
off. It gave me same feeling I get when pulling the handle on a 200 amp
breaker.
So that's my opinion. Now some of you guys won't agree and I'm sure you'll
be very vocal about it. Fine. Make my day. Just don't accuse me of being
anti TenTec. I'm setting here with a Centurion, Hercules II, Triton 544 and
am very happy with them. They work as expected. No surprises.
Steve N4LQ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tommy" <aldermant@alltel.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 9:21 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] E-Ham Bad Orion Review
> "The performance I hear about sounds very desirable, and the crashes and
> glitches sound very frustrating."
>
> Absolutely!! I am three weeks short of having had my Orion for a year. It
> has been both a pleasurable and very frustrating experience. Fortunately
Ten
> Tec can easily be blamed for this!! If we are long-time Ten Tec users, we
> are spoiled because in a heck of a lot of cases, when you open the factory
> shipping box, basically all you have to do is put the radio on your desk
and
> in a huge majority of cases, it just sits there and works for you....FOR
> YEARS!!
>
> However the Orion is the first of a new breed of radios wherein software
is
> an intergal part of its operation ability. They do not have it completely
> right yet, but similar to the Gates organization, they sure as heck do not
> give up on getting it right either. I hate to use this comparison, but the
> Orion is similar to Windows operating system, but in this case I am
> hoping/betting the Orion came out similar to Win NT. And with each
firmware
> update, I am hoping this will be the Win XP version. And the Orion is
> getting 'close'.
>
> Am I upset because the Orion 'doesn't work the way I expected'? You bet I
> am. But the reason I keep it is because of the excellent reputation
> established by the company who built it.
>
> Tom - W4BQF
>
>
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] E-Ham Bad Orion Review
>
>
> > >
> > >
> > > I know some of the older
> > >generation are vehemently against putting up with any little glitches
> etc. that are
> > >common in most computer defined electronics of ALL kinds today.
> > >
> > Well, maybe I am one "of the older generation". As long as I have been
> > using computers running Windows I have been annoyed by occasional
> > crashes. I have never accepted this as okay, although I have put up with
> > it in order to take advantage of the capabilities of the computer. I do
> > not think that consistant and identical output and functionality for
> > consistant and identical input is too much to ask from a machine. I
> > would say that is about where I draw the line between a good tool or
> > machine and a toy. When I get in the car to drive on the highway, I want
> > the car to steer to the right when I turn the wheel to the right EVERY
> > TIME, not just most of the time. And I don't want to have to pull over
> > (assuming I have not crashed and died) to shut the engine off, and
> > restart it in order to get the steering to work right again. Now that I
> > am running a computer with Windows XP it is much closer to a tool than
> > any windows operating system computer I have used before, they have been
> > closer to toys. I grew up with radios that pretty much did the same
> > thing every time I did the same thing to the controls. That is what I
> > expect out of a radio. I don't think it is too much to expect. Some
> > people may put up with erratic behavior in order to get excellent
> > performance (most of the time) and some people would rather have
> > consistancy with almost as good performance. I have never tried an
> > Orion. The performance I hear about sounds very desirable, and the
> > crashes and glitches sound very frustrating.
> >
> > If your computer or radio was an airplane, would you go up in it? With
> > or without a parachute? I would like both my computer and my radio to
> > work so reliably that my answer to those questions is: yes, without a
> > parachute. Maybe that is an "older generation" attitude.
> >
> > DE N6KB
> >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > TenTec mailing list
> > TenTec@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
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>
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