I think you will have to send it in. My Orion (I), bought new about two
and half years ago, did strange things like this from the time I
received it. At first it only happened occasionally, and I blamed it on
firwmware glitches since those were rampant or at least alleged to be
on the reflectors. The firmwares got better yet my problems became more
frequent. I did the V2 mod without any reduction in adverse events. In
retrospect, I should have sent the thing back while it was still under
warranty, but like you said, that's a hassle. I used Fedex ground the
last time, and I know it under $30 to send it to the factory, but I am
closer than you. Sorry, but it's a great receiver when it's working.
ARL SIXTY TWO es 73, John
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:19:50 -0700
From: "Lee Armitage" <LEE@GJ.NET>
Subject: [Orion] To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: Orion@contesting.com
Message-ID: <008001c725f5$c66e4880$0400a8c0@LeeGX620>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I sent the email shown below last night and received an auto responder
that the Service Department at Ten Tec was closed for the next four days
for Christmas.
It is an Orion I S/N 04C10584 running 1.372 firmware. The jumper wire
mod has not been done for Version 2.
I thought perhaps another Orion owner reading this reflector may have
had the same problem and could give me some direction.
I have only had the Orion I for a week and am in the early learning
stages with the manual. Definitely an Orion newbie.
Power supply is Astron RS-35M with 13.78 output with rig on.
I did a Master Reset and cleared user memory when I got the rig last
week.
The only thought I have had and this is a wild guess on my part is to
download the 1.372 firmware from Ten Tec or get it from a local friend
that has it on CD and reinstall the firmware. Does this make any sense?
I would prefer not to spent $150 round trip shipping to Ten Tec if this
an operator error on my part.
Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions anyone has.
Lee Armitage
N0LYW/AE
Western Colorado
970-234-8989
----- Original Message -----
From: Lee Armitage
To: service@tentec.com
Cc: Lee Armitage ; Steve Van Houweling ; Steve Grewe
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 1:43 AM
Subject: Orion I S/N 04C10584
Good Morning Paul,
Lee Armitage, N0LYW, here. We spoke yesterday about the fact that when
you turn this Orion on after it as been sitting overnight the screen
remains blank for about two minutes until full clear display after the
led's light up in the analog S meter. The first thing you see if the
freq that the radio is tuned to after a full minute and a half or more.
If the radio has been used and is turned off and within a few minutes
turned back on, the Ten Tec screen comes up and then the freq pops up
which seems normal to me.
My guess is what happens when the radio has sat overnight is that the
screen is so cold that when it is tuned on the Ten Tec screen does
always display but is not visible and then a minute later the freq
SLOWLY comes into view. The room temp is usually 65 to 75 F, not that
cold.
I could live with the screen situation, but wanted to mention it in case
it is related to a more serious issue outlined below.
Sometimes when I walk away from the radio, leaving it ON, for an hour
and return the six control knobs located directly above the main tuning
knob are all disabled. I cannot change volume on either receiver, the
MULTI knob will change nothing regardless of what is selected on the
screen and the RIT/XIT knob will not work. Before I walk away all of
these knobs are working perfectly and nothing has been changed by myself
to disable these knobs.
I can turn the radio off and back on and this may fix the situation, but
not always. When it has failed and I do the off and on routine with the
radio, you can see the MAIN AF knob try to move the volume screen bar
indicator, but after a slight jiggle, nothing more happens. The MULTI
knob remains disabled.
Essentially, when one knob works, all six work. When any knob has failed
all six have failed.
Then at other times, the off and on routine, fixes all the knobs and the
work perfectly for quite a while.
I believe the CUT and PUT/BW knobs also fail along with the other four
knobs and will confirm this next time I have this failure.
When the six knobs have failed other parts of the radio seem to continue
to function normally, but I have not done any extensive test of this.
The previous owner, Steve Van Houweling, WB0UGO, said that if the radio
needed repairing within the first 30 days of my ownership he would cover
half the cost, so I am trying to determine if this problem pre-existed
my ownership. I noticed the blank screen when I first took it out of the
box and turned it and had to wait over a minute to see anything and then
if very slowly showed the freq.
The six knobs going dead happened the second day I used the radio.
I will give you a call Friday morning and see what you recommend.
If we can trouble shoot and repair it here by telephone I am happy to
pay you the normal consulting fee for this help.
Other than these issues which I am sure are solvable, I love the radio
and it easily outperforms the FT1000MP it replaced.
Thanks and 73,
Lee Armitage N0LYW
Western Colorado
970-234-8989
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