Urban myths.
Facts are:
Doug Smith and Gary Barbour wrote the classic Orion.
Doug Smith left TenTec under non-amicable terms.
The Classic Orion had lots of lock up issues, a lot due to the DSP code
couldn't communicate well with the other microprocessors, and would lock up the
busses.
Gary Barbour re-wrote ALL of the Orion II, mainly to free up processing time so
that the communications channels would not lock up anymore. Also due to the
fact that the chip was going obsolete, and then decided to add a color screen
and better filtering.
Those are facts.
They don't have a team of 100s doing engineering work, like Icom and Yaesu and
Kenwood do.
They only have a couple of people in engineering that do design work, and only
a couple of people that do testing internally. They do a lot of their user
testing by having their service group and others take sets home and test on the
air.
This is a "Ham" engineering team, who try to make the best products available
at a cost that most can afford. They are not a team of hundreds of engineers,
otherwise you would see more and more products coming out. This team of
engineers also has to deal with obsolete parts issues, problems in the factory,
answering hundreds of service questions posted by people who are using the
radio "in a different way" than anyone else on the planet.
Being new to this, I would love to see a radio that has ALL bands available for
ALL modes, including 6m and 2m. Maybe that isn't possible, but it would be nice
to have something all rolled up into one.
However, given that they are constantly getting barraged by arguments on how NR
should work, we may not see something "new" from them for quite some time.
Maybe the people on this board are part of the problem.
A lot of people start yelling before they have found out that the problem is
really in their shack.Next time, ask if someone else has seen this, you will be
surprised, most problems are answered right on here, but people ignore the
answer, only to find out that later, the original answer by one of your fellow
hams was actually correct, and it was your mic, not your Orion SW.
A lot of people praise the new NR scheme, and a lot of people condemn it. Some
call for them to make a menu item so that you can pick which way it works.
Imagine, taking the time to do this, takes away time from fixing other bugs,
and from introducing new things.
So they have to weigh the benefits of the changes, and then weigh the
consequences of not having a new product that would compete with their
competitors on 6m, or on the internet, or ........
I do not envy them.
I just wish everyone would be more supportive, and not so immediately
condemnative.
TT is a great company, best service my bud has ever seen, and I'm afraid that
some day they may decide that it is too much hassle to stay in the amateur
market, and go with nothing but commercial products. Afterall, commercial
probably pays the bills, and they have exacting specs on how things should
work. Whereas selling to the amateur market is like selling to a thousand
different customers with a hundred thousand different requirements, often
varying from day to day from the same person. So many times I've seen where one
person says something, then contradicts themselves the next week just to keep
an argument alive.
Remember what you got into amateur radio for in the first place.
Helping others learn more about it
adventure
working together.
That is why I started into the hobby, but I could see some who would read this
list, and drop out because ... too much bs... it should be easier... the sure
don't live up to their credo...
This will be my last post, as I too am getting disheartened for now.
Grant Youngman <nq5t@comcast.net> wrote: > Doug Smith's leaving TT was NOT an
'urban myth'!
But the notion that the Orion somehow died with him is. Positively.
Absurd. Of course he left. Last I heard he isn't the last living guy that
knows stuff. That he had the mojo and the rest is history -- that's the
mythololgy, which has now become dogma. If Gary B did do the Orion II
single handedly (maybe that's just another piece of mythology), how many of
the whiners (and I've been one, too, at times) could even come close?
Come to think of it, this whole series of threads is absurd.
I don't understand why all the guys who think that they could do a better
job, don't get together, throw in their savings accounts, and just build a
radio. Then we'll see. Nothing is perfect for everyone. Not the Orion, or
the II, or the 7800 or the 9000 or .... Nothing is perfect.
The whole business is just filling up disk space in my DELETED folder,
including this useless contribution.
Grant/NQ5T
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