I believe if you go back and forth between 2.059d and 2.060b, and listen
very carefully, you will find that Bob is correct about the tail-end click
in the sidetone. Try it with different sidetone levels. It really stands out
with low or no sidetone volume. It's certainly not the worst I've heard in
the various firmware releases, but it's there. I don't hear anything
resembling the harmonics Bob describes.
I have to say that 2.059d is rather remarkable for the almost complete lack
of noise on QSK switching. Smooth as butter. However, it may be that this
comes at the price of very poor QSK performance -- i.e., the complete lack
of ability to hear between elements or characters in 2.059d. I'm wondering
whether smoothing out the switching noise resulted in too long a delay in
switching back to full receive. We may be looking at a tradeoff here.
I agree that QSK performance in 2.060b is improved. I won't know if the
switching clicks are bearable until I've listened to 40+ hours of CQing in a
contest. I do know that I missed decent QSK the last time I did a major
contest with 2.059d. If Ten-Tec can remove the click without affecting QSK
performance, I'd certainly encourage them to do so.
One other point regarding QSK noise. I was known on the beta test reflector
as being very sensitive to QSK switching noise, especially a loud click in
the left headphone and somewhat softer matching click in the right
headphone. This was known as the "WC1M Lament", and is present in all
versions of the firmware, though the intensity tends to vary. It turns out
this noise is caused by a hardware problem: the main T/R traces on the
CPU/Logic board run directly beneath the audio op amps used for headphone
audio. Jack Burchfield set me up with a technician at the factory to explore
a fix, and I was able to implement a mod that completely eliminated the WC1M
Lament. However, it is not a mod for the faint-hearted. It involves
soldering/desoldering tiny SMD components, cutting traces and soldering
jumper wires. But it works. I would hope Ten-Tec makes this available as a
factory mod. If Bob's Orion has the WC1M Lament, then it doesn't surprise me
that he finds the louder QSK click in 2.060b annoying. Noise produced by the
hardware tends to interact with noise created by the firmware.
I haven't had time to explore other aspects of 2.060b. On the surface, it
seems very good. The QSK performance is better, and I agree that the
receiver may be a tad quieter than in 2.059d. I like the SPLIT and Band
register indicators, though I would rather have seen some work put into a
one-button "quick split" feature (good designs have been suggested.)
I should also report one other item. For quite some time I was a devotee of
version 1.373b5, and felt that despite numerous shortcomings it was superior
to any of the version 2 releases. I had used 1.373b5 in every major contest
in which I participated since it was released, including a winning effort in
the 2006 CQ WPX CW effort from KT1V. But when this year's ARRL DX CW contest
rolled around, I happened to have 2.059d installed and began the contest
with it. That version was certainly the best of the version 2 releases, but
had some well-known DSP artifacts in the presence of strong signals (or
maybe just loud volume.) These were even worse in QSK operation. Also,
2.059d's QSK performance was abysmal -- no better than VOX operation.
During the Saturday morning runs, when signals from Europe on 20m were quite
loud and the band was very crowded, I decided that the DSP noise and lousy
QSK performance were unacceptable and decided to download 1.373b5. I was
shocked at how awful 1.373b5 sounded compared with 2.059d! There was
considerably more receiver noise and the QSK switching noise was downright
deafening, despite having fixed the WC1M Lament hardware problem. Also, the
screen contrast was quite inferior in 1.373b5, something I had never noticed
before. It was much harder to work with 1.373b5 than I could ever have
imagined (yes, I did a battery reset and master reset.) Within a few minutes
I went back to 2.059d. This was a completely boneheaded thing to do during
the peak hours of a contest and probably pushed me down at least one place
in the standings. But I learned that comparing versions under contest battle
conditions can yield significantly different results than comparing versions
under normal band conditions.
YMMV, but that's my story.
I should also point out that for casual operation and chasing DX, I almost
always turn on my FT-1000D first. The user interface is much more intuitive,
and getting in/out of split is really easy. It takes too much thinking with
the Orion. However, when the DX is really weak, I switch over to the Orion.
The 1000D is no slouch, especially on the low bands, but in almost every
case, the Orion can pull signals out that the 1000D cannot. I always use the
Orion for running on crowded bands in big contests because the IMD immunity,
selectivity and sensitivity are superior to the 1000D, even though I have
the INRAD roofing filter mod installed in the latter. The bottom line is
that, despite numerous firmware flaws, the Orion is still the best contest
radio I've used.
I'm delighted that Ten-Tec is still improving the Orion firmware. There's
still lots of room for improvement, but it appears that 2.060b is a step in
the right direction.
73, Dick WC1M
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Henderson [mailto:bob@5b4agn.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 6:16 AM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] V2.060b Release Comments
>
> Impementation of band-stacking ID is a big plus. Many thanks Ten Tec
>
> The benefit of adding the SPLIT designator is completely lost on me.
> Split
> already being indicated by both VFO A/B switch lights and also TRS
> designators above and below main frequency LSDigits.
>
> QSK speed improvement is much appreciated but the previously acceptable
> CW
> sidetone is now AWFUL. High harmonic content with a loud tail-end
> click. I
> do hope Ten Tec implement a fix for this quickly !
>
> If the sidetone wasn't screwed this would be a very worthwhile release
> from
> my POV.
>
> Bob, 5B4AGN
>
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