I had my main contesting radio go toes up a few days back... Decided to
replace it as well as shipping it for repairs - again - so I can operate in
CQWW... Counted up the cash in my pocket, busted the dog's piggy bank, dug out
the rainy day wad stashed behind the amp and totaled it all... I email
offered a few guys cash money for their advertised OI radios... None were
interested in my offers... Thought it over for a day and decided debt isn't
THAT bad if it is for a n e w radio - right Santa? It's like that old line
your buddies give you, "Aahh, have another beer, she can only get SO mad."...
Anyway, stashed the wad back behind the amp, broke out the plastic and called
my drug pusher, name of Stan, and had a new OII fitted out with filters and
shipped 2nd day air... It arrived at noon yesterday and was installed and
working by two...
So here we are the morning after the binge at two... Woke up at ten, rolled
over and carefully looked - still looks like a 10 to me - whew! Anyway, all
jests aside, my first impressions: And let me say I had been put off on the
Orion by all the weeping, whining, wailing, and teeth gnashing on this list,
so I was skeptical to say the least when I decided to place the order... I
did not want a radio that merely learning to operate is an entire vocation in
itself - I just want to contest and dx, not sit around stroking my cpu... And
this is not new buyer enthusiasm, puppy love, or the first real radio I have
ever owned - it took a lot of hard thinking before I made the decision...
After 46 years of hamming I have been through everything from junk to
Collins... I have a steel cabinet that holds multiple radios from homebrew,
HeathKit, Drake, Icom, Yaesu, Ten Tec - and a couple I can't even remember...
This ain't my first rodeo...
So, the big moment - power on: It goes through the self checking for a few
seconds then lights up like a pinball machine in a smoky bar... I reflexively
reach for a beer and a cigar while my elbow thumps my side to see if I
remembered to tuck the heat under my belt before I left the house - oops, then
remember I had to give all that up to buy this radio - durn! The speaker is
hissing, lots of hissing... Hmmm, I punch the RF gain button and after a
moment of figuring out which knob does the job turn the gain down to ~72 so
the hiss sounds about right, punch the AGC button and choose 'off' ... I see
the MODE button and push it, golly there is a couple CW selections even, push
the button next to one and we are in CW mode... Hmmm, look the panel over
carefully for filter buttons, finding none I finally see the BW knob, give it
an experimental turn and the sound from the speaker starts changing... Golly
gee, look I can even see the bandwidth selected on the
display... Crank in down below 1 kc and I hear the sound change as the rig
auto selects the crystal filters as I dial down, just like Stan promised...
Down to 590 cycles, the 600 cycle crystal filter auto selects and it sounds
just right to my battered old ears...
Okey doakee smokee, I plug the paddles in and hit it -> nada, nuttin, no dits,
no dahs, no nuttin, ahh jeezzzz...
I stare at the panel for a long minute, I even look at the back side of the
radio and along the sides hoping for a button or knob, no joy, then with bowed
shoulders I shuffle over to the shipping box and fish out the manual..
I hate it when I have to do that...
90 seconds later I am a new man - That cryptic SP button controls the keyer -
oohhh ya, and I even see how to get to the tuner when I want it, hey reading
the manual aint half bad... Seconds later we have dits, yesssss, set the
numbers to a solid 23 wpm, spin the dial, there's an IK3 calling, go right
back at him and we have the first Q in the log... Life is GOOD... Spent the
rest of the afternoon and evening going back to the radio and making a couple
of Q's, then go work outside for a while - and gloat...
So after day ONE - Radio is a 10
Operator is still a -1 but learning fast...
The intent was that the Orion would go into the #2 radio slot on the bench
during CQWW while one of the 'reliable' #2 radios would go back to being #1
for the contest... But one day of operating the Orion and that plan is
dust... The Orion will be in the #1 radio slot and either a Yaesu or an Omni
will be in the #2 slot... I took the time to plug the computer into the Orion
and fire up N1MM Logger and reconfigure for the Orion - it plays like
gangbusters... The MK-V was more work to get configured the first time
around... "lots tougher", I spent days reading that manual...
Color me happy so far...
denny / k8do
---------------------------------
Check out the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta - Fire up a more powerful email and get
things done faster.
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|