"...So, in short, my take is this. There are many, many competent
radios out
there that will work just fine. The Orion fills the gap where you
need to
dig deep to pull out the DX who is light copy or who is in there in a
crowded band. That's why I got, and intend to keep, mine. "
Here, here. I've had my share of fairly minor issues as well and
have posted here to find that I'm not alone. But TT bashing I'm not
into.
In nearly 30 years I've had a string of what were, at the time, top
of the line Kenwood and Drake rigs along with Yaesu vhf and Icom
receivers. Not a one of them was perfect. I've bought extra audio
filters to deal with hiss and AGC overshoot, InRad filters for
better selectivity , installed mods for a variety of issues and kept
looking for the perfect radio. When reviewing the recent history of
firmware updates, 90% of what Ten Tec has fixed, I never realized was
a problem. I think they are trying for that perfect radio for DXers
and contesters.
I don't care that the screen only comes in two flavors--black and
white or white and black. I do care about the bullet proof front end
and noise fighting abilities. Neither has been compromised by little
glitches that we suffer from. As Tommy has said, it's the best
hardware around. And Toby has said, he just wants the best of 1.367
and 1.372. I fully agree with both of these gentleman. I'll bet TT
has way too much at stake not to get firmware version 2.0 right,
whatever it takes. In the meantime I'll still be awed by a rig that
allows me to camp next to a 9+30db signal unaware of it's existence
or take down line noise over s9 and still operate happily.
Gary W7TEA
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