Jim, KH7M wrote:
"Just believe a real explanation about why is deserved. Maybe
your ears were different in the test run and reported on May 20th
and the test reported on June 18th?"
==========
Since my explanation about a week ago I've tried to solve whatever the
difference was when I first got the Orion and my later A/B tests.
True, when I first tried it on 160m (which was not an A/B test, BTW) I
was elated by the apparent results. I've come to the conclusion that
there are two possibilities:
1) As you may or may not know, when I initially received my Orion there
was a firmware problem with the preamp ON/OFF. I feel that why the
intitial results seemed so good is that the preamp was OFF (even though
the display said "ON") and kicked ON when I went to the NR setting of
"9". As you may or may not know, NR has an effect when using a DSP BW of
100 Hz only when PROG is selected for the AGC. Then , when you turn NR
ON, the noise as well as the signal increases in the audio output. This
explains why the signal got louder when I turn the NR on at a setting of
"1". If the preamp kicked ON when I turned NR ON at a setting of "9",
this explains why the signal jumped up so much. It has been determined
by others as well as by me that the preamp makes a huge difference on
weak signals between "OFF" and "ON" (more than it's rated dB gain), which
explains this.
Just prior to doing the A/B test, a firmware update corrected the preamp
ON/OFF problem, so this did not affect the results of the A/B test.
2) The other reason might be that something went awry with my Orion. It
was sent back to the factory for a problem with the narrow xtal filters
not tracking the DSP filters when you changed the sidetone/spot pitch
(which was fixed by an update to firmware v1.345). It came back from
the factory with six hardware upgrades according to the paperwork that
was returned with it and a checklist which showed that they checked
everything and that the radio was in good health. So, it seems unlikely
that something was wrong with my Orion however I still leave that
possibility open.
My Orion is now at the factory undergoing stringent testing. If they
find something wrong with it and fix it and the radio performs like it
appeared to in my initial test, I told them to cancel the refund and
return the radio to me. And, in that case, the Orion will be elevated
from its last place position on my list.
That's where it stands now.
I realize that you died-in-the-wool Tec-Tecians have a problem when
someone says something detrimental about your favorite product, but
you've got to be open-minded about it and say to yourself, "Maybe there
is and maybe there isn't a problem with the Orion", rather than the
continual flaming you've been putting out.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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