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[TenTec] Orion questions

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] Orion questions
From: k6se@juno.com (k6se@juno.com)
Date: Sun May 18 21:40:44 2003
Greg, AB7R wrote:

"I have the 3 optional filters installed.  when activated and I adjust BW
from 380 down to 370 I see about an 2 S-unit attenuation.  I tried
adjusting the center freq  by finding the roll off about equi-distant
from the center with the BW control.  This still does not change the 2
s-unit drop.  Is this just the way the filter is acting as a roofing
filter instead of a regular IF filter?  Just did not think it should do
that.  The filter CF I adjusted was for the 500 hz one."
----------
Once I adjusted the center freq to -250 (on UCW) for my 500Hz filter, I
didn't notice any attenuation.  My 250Hz filter centers at about -220 (on
UCW), but has noticeable attenuation.  Turning up the audio gain slightly
seems to be all that is needed.
==========

"The NR in CW seems to work in reverse.  When I activate it, it increases
the noise, almost acting like a pre-amp. It increases the cw signal and
the background noise as well.  This seems to vary with the strength of
the signal.  The NR works great on  SSB with the AGC slower.  But a fast
AGC in CW seems like it does not allow the NR DSP enough time to process
the signal."
----------
There is an apparent bug in this area -- The first time you turn the NR
on after the rig is powered up, the noise increases as much as turning
the preamp on.  However, as you increase the NR setting to a higher
value, the NR starts working properly.  Then, after decreasing it to "1",
it still seems to be ok.

As you said, the NR works fantastically well on SSB signals (much better
than my NIR-12) however on CW it seems much less effective.  The AGC
setting has nothing to do with this -- it is affected by the BW setting. 
As you decrease the BW, the lees effect the NR has.  As you increase it,
the more effect the NR has.  I hope this is a problem that can be fixed
with a software update because if the NR worked as well on narrow filters
as it does on wide filters, I would have an advantage on 160 meters that
noone else had!
==========

"When the headphones are plugged in, there is a CONSTANT high piched
whine, sounds to be about 900-1000 hz (guess).  Also, when sending CW,
the audio in the phones sounds like mush, almost like a crackling sound
when transmitting."
----------
I hear the same high-pitched noise.  It's there even when the audio gain
is all the way down and increases as the audio gain is turned up.  This
might be a serious problem on weak-signal DXing or a fatigue problem
during CW contests.  Something MUST be done about it.

The CW sidetone sounds fine on my Orion, however you can hear a click on
the beginning of each dit ir dah.  This might lead to fatigue also during
a long CW contest.  My Sidetone is set to 410Hz.
==========

"Rare, but occaisional loss of RX for no apparent reason.  Sometimes it
looks like it locks up in low level Transmit since the SWR indicator
comes on replacing the sub rx bargraph, but no output."
----------
I haven't had this problem with my Orion.  My radio came with software
v1.337 installed, but I upgraded to v1.341 before I did any transmitting.

73, de Earl, K6SE
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