I purchased an OII at Dayton the first year they came out and couldn't have
been more happy. It was fully loaded including the remote pod and served me
well for many years. The only thing it appeared to lack was a reasonable
panadapter / waterfall display which Ten Tec faithfully promised me year after
year at Dayton and never delivered. I would have been happy with the equivalent
of my 756Pro display, but it never appeared. However, time marches; I replaced
the OII in the main position with a Flex 6700 / Maestrocombination several
years ago and relegated the Orion to back-up duty.
Honestly, with the exception of AGC slope, I find the Flex to be superior in
every respect. I have done numerous A/B comparisons and I don't think there
was ever a time when the Orion receiver would have delivered better than the
Flex. The Flex Panafall display, a combination panadapter / waterfall, makes
pile-ups easy and is wonderful on "dead" bands. I rarely listen to the "split"
anymore in a pile-up, I can tell where DX is listening by spreading the pile-up
across the entire screen and seeing calling stations. Plus the ability to look
at all the bands simultaneously during a contest changes that part of the
equation.
Bottom line for me now is that although I have lobbied for on OIII for years I
don't think I would buy one if it were offered - unless somehow it were to beat
Flex SmartSDR at its game. That is doubtful, but I'll keep an open mind.
Keith - AC9S
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