Hi Jim,
If I had a choice of being in either Charlotte or Kauai ... no contest. Kauai
every time. I absolutely love it there!
I played with the Orion at Orlando. I had to wait until late afternoon ( I
returned to the booth numerous times) because of the crowds. No antenna but
they did have the Heil Studio One mic connected. This is my opinion and only
my opinion. The radio reminds me of a IC 765 with the IC 746 PRO screen
installed. Actually, the quality of the screen ... color, resolution etc. is
better in the Orion than the 746 PRO. The color of the radio is slightly
darker than the 765. The knobs look like they came right off a 765. So, if
you don't have a problem with the 765 appearance you won't with the Orion.
Menu(s) were easy to navigate. I just wish there had been an antenna. Last
year GAP had one of their new antennas connected to a 756 PRO II in the Icom
booth and that seemed to work ok. Too bad Ten Tec didn't work a deal with one
of the antenna vendors that were there. I did happen to be in the booth when
the discussion on how the noise reduction function worked. At the time, I
thought it was just because it didn't work the same way for both receivers. I
have since heard it may be a code issue.
I'm looking forward to seeing the radio in a real world environment.
73 Mike
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