Ken Brown wrote:
Hi Mike,
There are many radios that have much better performance than the Drake
2b / 2BQ Heath DX-60 / HG-10, and do not get "stuck" and require
rebooting or power cycling to start working again. So I do not think
that insisting on consistant and reliable operation means that one
must accept 1960s tube technology performance.
I hope that someone, maybe Ten-Tec with a new firmware release for the
Orion, can demonstrate that top level performance using
microprocessors and DSP, can be accomplished with reliability and
consistancy. I believe that is a reasonable expectation from a
production radio, just as reliability from a commercial airliner is a
resonable expectation. I think that a much lower level of reliablity
and consistancy is acceptable for a homebrew project or laboratory
feasability demonstation, be it a radio or an airplane.
I have never tried an Orion and don't own one. So I dont know, perhaps
all the people who post reports of their Orion's getting stuck and
requiring a reset to get them working again, have failed to pay
attention to all details in their firmware download procedures, or
have done something else wrong.
You may be the first person to call me ultra conservative.
73 DE N6KB
The Orion is charting a new course in Ham radio with the software
defined platform and it is hard to imagine such an undertaking not
involving some trial and error. Part of the Amatuer's code is to stay
abreast of technology and that requires the ability to view glitches as
challenges during the pioneering of this new technology. I've only had
opportunity to examine one Orion and it was not a dissapointment. For
those who want to stay in charted territory there are always used Omnis
to be had. I would'nt let fear of radio problems keep me away from TOP
performance.
73 DE KI7YY
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