I tend to agree that the release of the Orion II should produce some "spin
off" advantages for the Orion. (Let me make my point clear, there is no
such thing as the Orion I. There is the Orion and the soon to be released
Orion II. ) The Orion is still upgrade-able with new release software
which should make the performance in the future see an improvement over the
current version in release today. Thus, the improvement exists for current
radios and this should hold their value up. I am concerned that "fear"
selling today will actually cause the current model to sell for less on the
used market, at least for the short term. This is viewed as being no
different than the stock market reacting to tragic news. Down one day and
then recover latter. Buyers take advantage of this fact and sellers suffer
some losses. One has to be in it for the long haul to be profitable.
The Orion performance in terms of receiver and transmitter operation
(discounting few current software artifacts) will still be the same, thus a
great performer compared to other radios on the market today. The hardware
is good and stable. The thing to look forward to is the next releases of
operating systems for the Orion. Clearly, these will benefit from the
development activities of the operating platform for the Orion II.
As to radio upgrades in general, the Pro can not be upgraded to a Pro II, or
a 706 upgraded to a 706 Mk IIG, or the Omni V upgraded to a Omni VI+. In
the history of things in the ham radio equipment circles, the release of the
Orion II is no different. Same true in the computer world where the 486
processor was replaced by the Pentium, Pentium I, Pentium II and the saga
continues with the faster processors. On the other hand, look what SP1 and
then SP2 has done to stabilize Windows. Even Mac frequently updates their
operating systems. Some free, some at a charge. My computer history goes
back to CP/M systems and DOS. And yes, I fondly recall Windows 1.1 release.
Man, I'm glad that those days are way in the past.
73
Bob, K4TAX
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