Dear (happy) Orion owners,
Enough already...please! So you operate SSB and you have spent your
4000+ bucks and YOU have the best radio...that is wonderful and you
should be proud. It is TRUE that a ham's BEST radio is the one they
HAVE on their desk...otherwise they would be pretty dumb to keep it...???
When the ARRL evaluates other radios, you gush and rush to quickly
quote comparison receiver test results to your Orion...and you think
the ARRL lab test are wonderful (and they ARE!). But now that the
ARRL doesn't flow with glowing words about the radio you laid out
your 4000+ bucks for, suddenly the ARRL sucks? NOT!!
The facts are that the Orion never has and quite possibly never will,
live up to the specifications Ten Tec published...that is a FACT! I
can say that because I owned one for 20 months, complained like heck
because it would not run full QSK, with their own amplifier, in the
keying loop. And got my fanny chewed out on this reflector as one who
'was trying to destroy Ten Tec'. I was a contributing member of the
beta test group and that sad experience convinced me that Ten Tec
would never get the firmware corrected. It wasn't back then and it
isn't today...but at least you have a color screen, which I'm sure
helps make the Orion a better operating radio. What happened to the
Orion beta test group? Well of course they found so many firmware
bugs and begged and pleaded for Ten Tec to address them, that Ten
Tec, in their wisdom (?) finally dropped the entire group. Now you
guys are Ten Tec's beta test group for Orions firmware...are you
having fun yet?
Yes, the Orion is a good radio and it's Ten Tec's first steps to join
the rest of the ham radio manufacturers who build a SSB radio that
just happens to ALMOST operate CW.
Relax...breath deeply...just because the ARRL's QST review is telling
the truth, does not mean your are not intelligent folks.
Tom - W4BQF
At Monday 07:43 PM 7/31/2006, you wrote:
The Orion is a good radio, period. It's a dream of a U.S. company...
designed by and built by a U.S. company and serviced by a U.S. company.
It's a good radio period.. I said that already.
The band scope I once thought was a gimmick ... isn't. It's good and with
my first production Orion, up-dated to the latest radio with V-2.055 NEVER
fails to work and well. It's on full time and I'm active.
Other radios are also good and in the final analysis it's 'what feels good
on the desk'. The ARRLis not going to please everyone.. me included all the
time. The first purpose for the ARRL in my judgment is to help protect our
frequencies and all the other is fluff. I'm talking about the DXCC,
membership services, SK, articles to keep our minds from turning to mush,
VEC leadership, on and on. BUT they need to pay the bills and that means to
sell ads for the publications. This means JA resources.
I believe it's a very hard balancing act for them to appease everyone who
pays the bills and frankly I dislike their leaning at times. As smarter
folks have said before me.. follow the money and this is not Ten-Tec in
advertising when the playing field clearly tilts to the west.
Remember too that the reviews are prepared by technical folks and many of
them simply can't express themselves while being experts in the technical
aspects of equipment and the review of equipment. This may be some of 'our'
problems.
Did they lie? Did they tell the full story? Did they slant it one way or
the other? They were just humans working to pay to fill the gas tank, heat
the house, and well... just being human. Did leadership at the ARRL vote..
you bet they did.
I disliked some of the review while other parts were okay. We on this
reflector know the answers already don't we? We really just want anyone to
confirm what we know. I do, and when they don't.. woe be them. Let's just
pick up the pieces and march on knowing we DO HAVE the best radio, by a U.
S. company, with some issues to be addressed. Hell, with these issues, it's
still the best radio. When did Yaesu, Icom and not sure about Kenwood start
talking about roofing filters? You got it.. when OUR Orion hit the street.
Just be happy, enjoy and rise above. 73, Lynn W4NL
----- Original Message -----
From: <K4IA@aol.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 6:44 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] "Being a Contrarian . . ."
>I thought the QST article was really unfair. Most QST reviews are so
> gooey-gushy positive you have to read between the lines to get a hint of
> the truth.
> This article was out of character in that it emphasized the negative and
> sniped about a lot of picky issues. You had to read between the lines to
> get to
> the truth but the overall feeling was very negative.
>
> Why did they need to devote two paragraphs to a software issue that had
> already been fixed?
>
> Why the comment about "No hint of ALC function or measurement?" As
> someone
> else posted, "Did TT forget to install the LED?" Obviously not.
>
> I don't agree that the sweep has no practical value. I find it very
> useful.
> The metering is as good as any I have seen. Who relies on the S meter
> anyway? It is all relative.
>
> Complaints about the multi-knob are matched by complaints about the 98
> buttons on the YaeComWoods. In other words, "You can't win."
>
> I like my Orion. I would recommend it to anyone. I don't like the NR
> after
> 1.371 but that's my tough luck. Maybe it will get fixed. In the
> meantime,
> I'm enjoying the radio. I read all QST reviews with a large bucket of
> salt.
> Suggest others do the same.
>
> k4ia
> Craig "Buck"
> Fredericksburg, Virginia USA
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
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