Your new Orion is a highly sophisticated radio. For proper operation you
will need to provide a "DIRECT" RF ground. Heavy braided cable and solid
copper bus bars are insufficient.
To create a direct ground, one must first prepare the surface. We
recommend removing all vegetation around the area for at least 24".
Remove the sod and create an indentation in the soil about 2" deep. Fill
the indentation with water and let soak overnight. Doing this will make
driving the ground rod easier and will help make future weeding easier.
Next, we need to prepare the Orion. Remove the plastic feet from the
cabinet. Using an electric sander, remove all paint from the bottom of
the cabinet. Now place the Orion in the indentation you created.
Now we need to install the ground rod. Drilling a pilot hole in the top
of the Orion will make installation go easier. The hole should be
approximately the same diameter as the ground rod. Insert the ground
into the hole and drive it in until the top of the rod is about 2" above
the Orion's cabinet top. Affix a suitable ground clamp to the top of the
rod. From the clam, run a heavy braid out to each corner of the Orion
and weld them to each corner.
Finally, connect 120 radial wires to the clamp, making them at least
120ft long. Bury these slightly below the ground surface.
You now have provided a suitable RF ground. We recommend using N4PY
software to operate the Orion instead of actually touching the knobs.
This will provide even better RF isolation.
A suitable microphone connector is still in the development stages. Stay
tuned for further developments.
R.F. Burns
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