Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!

["Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>]

I keep hoping that it's something simple like a hiccup while I was flashing 
the new firmware, so I'm interested if anyone else finds the same things I'm 
finding in the behavior.
           Ron  N6IE
      www.N6IE.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene Henderson" <wb9hla@comcast.net>
To: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>; "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" 
<tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!


> Ron,
> Looks like someone forgot to install this on a radio and see if it worked.
> I agree with you
> not even close to Prime Time
> Gene WB9HLA
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
> To: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>; "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
> <tentec@contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 21:50
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
>
>
> > Addendum to my post:  on problem #1, I'm referring to the RX audio.  TX
> > audio (other than more drive needed and processor problem) still sounds
> > broadcast quality.
> >
> >            Ron   N6IE
> >       www.N6IE.com
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
> > To: <tentec@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 6:41 PM
> > Subject: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
> >
> >
> > > Here are a list of problems I found right off with the v. 2.042A, even
> > > after doing a battery reset and two master resets and memory clear:
> > >  1.. Very noticeable distortion on all audio.  Sounds like overdrive in
> > > IF
> > > or DSP section.
> > >  2.. AGC hang in AF AGC.  S-meter goes up and never comes down!  At same
> > > time, RF gain goes down and does not come back up.  If you manually turn
> > > the RF Gain all the way to 0, then back up to 100, the radio is
> > > essentially muted.  This will not happen if the "AGC Hang" setting is 0,
> > > but then distortion is really bad.
> > >  3.. NR does not work in AF AGC mode.  Does seem to work well in RF AGC
> > > mode.
> > >  4.. Much more audio drive needed on AUX input for SSB.  It looks like
> > > about 10 dB more.
> > >  5.. AM carrier= 1.25 Watts max!  That's at 100% PWR setting.
> > >  6.. FM carrier= 6.4 Watts max.
> > >  7.. SSB Speech Processor gives only around 50 Watts max peak output.
> > > You
> > > can get it up to 100 Watts when you crank it to "way beyond reasonable
> > > distortion".
> > >  8.. Could not find any sort of S-Meter calibration
> > > Here are the good points so far:
> > >  1.. Side tone is louder and spot level is too.
> > >  2.. Waterfall display is much improved.
> > >  3.. Difference in frequency between Main and Sub improved, but still 
> > > not
> > > "phase locked".  I detect about 0.1 Hz differential which should make it
> > > fine for true diversity antenna work.
> > >  4.. In RF AGC mode, the NR really does seem improved, although it's 
> > > hard
> > > to tell with the audio distortion mentioned above.
> > > So that's the good, the bad and the ugly of it!  I'm QSYing back to v.
> > > 2.039d, the last one that worked right...
> > >
> > >            Ron  N6IE
> > >       www.N6IE.com
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