After dealing with multiple antenna repairs and fine tuning, 3 weeks ago I
finally had my station the way I have always dreamed it to be. The perfect set
up (for me) lasted all of 13 days. Last Friday evening, while I was driving
home from work, looking forward to an extended holiday weekend of doing nothing
but operating my station, my qth was hit by a very bad storm. I knew it was bad
when I called home from my cell phone and heard a fast busy. It was confirmed
when I had to clear fallen tree limbs and drive around fallen trees just to get
to the house. And my worst fears were realized when I fired up the station and
the Orion 2 refused to come on. Total damages, one week later, multiple
appliances in the house, tel line, 1 computer, the computer dsl line, a tv, my
ham station accessory pwr supply, my stack match, my tic ring motor, and MY
ORION 2 !!
I spent the weekend visiting a couple local hams, and played around with their
top of line rigs. For me, it just wasn’t the same. The K-3 I played around
with was too small, and I didn’t like the way the received audio sounded.
(Though the outboard frequency sweep is so cool!!! Come on Ten Ten, you’re way
late on getting yours to market.)
I wanted another 02.
Nationwide has been very understanding over the years, and has always given me
some slack when it comes to my passion for ham radio and covering storm damage.
But I clearly heard the adjuster GULP when I gave her the replacement cost on
my fried O2. She said she would have to get back to me.
On Tuesday I called Stewart at the Ten Tec sales desk, and he said they had one
O2 left in stock, a demo unit. ( Ten Tec, I know you guys have always been
different, but you’ll make more sales if you keep ur current production models
in stock !!)
On Wednesday, Nationwide was starting to hedge, but I could not go another
weekend without an O2, so I went ahead and bought the last one in stock, even
though I had not yet received Nationwide’s assurance of coverage. I told the
adjuster that, despite the rough economy, I didn’t care, I was getting another
O2 whether they covered it or not. ( Not exactly what I told my xyl, though.)
The radio was delivered less than 24 hours later, and I spent an hour or so
tonight plugging in the various accessories. When complete, I fired up the
radio and it was completely locked up. It wouldn’t change bands, and none of
the knobs worked. I did 3 master resets, but the new 02 still would not unlock.
I was so mad, Ten Tec had obviously sold me a bad radio. In my mind, I was
already planning to drive there straight away Friday mng, and demand they
refund my money.
Then, on a lark, I unplugged all my accessories and tried again. Guess what?
The O2 fired up perfectly fine. The problem was in my remote encoder. Either it
or the cable had been zapped by last Friday’s lightning strike, and having it
plugged in had locked up the rig.
So I apologize to Stewart and Ten Tec for everything I muttered under my
breath. I’m so glad to be back on air and all is well in my world tonight.
I will spend the weekend working on the tic ring and some of the accessories in
the shack, but it feels so good to have an O2 back in the shack and to be back
on the air with the radio I love.
73 de Jack W4TJE
Fancy Gap, VA
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