Ron --
I would prefer to be able to lock the Orion's master oscillator (with
a long averaging interval) to an external GPS-based 10 MHz standard --
without degrading the very clean phase noise characteristics of the
radio. W9AC's note sounds quite interesting. But the devil is in the
details.
In response to those asking why this level of accuracy is useful:
a) phase-locked receivers can be helpful when comparing signals between
two antenna systems (e.g., diversity reception);
b) when one is crowded the edge of a band, it's good to have confidence
as to one's actual location.
c) crystals shift slightly when initially powered up (a permanent
change). The change accumulates as power gets cycled on-off and the
radio's calibration can become far off. Between five Orions used at one
of the local contest stations, the frequencies are scattered over
several hundred Hz after a few years of operation.
73,
-- Eric K3NA
on 07 Jan 30 Tue 01:21 Ron Castro said the following:
I exchanged e-mails this week with one of the new owners of INRAD with a
suggestion about marketing an low-drift OCXO mod to fix the warm-up drift
problem on the Orions and Orion II's, and he wants to know what level of
interest there might be in such a product. The stock radios drift about 20 Hz
(15 MHz WWV) in the first 10 minutes, then very slowly correct themselves to
the starting point over a period of about 3 hours, plus they tend to drift with
shack temperature. I often hear Orions on the air, especially on the TT Sunday
net, and very often they are 20 Hz low in frequency. The fan mod on my website
mitigates the problem to some degree, but it's only a band-aid.
In my opinion, a mod like this would simple (a direct replacement of the
existing 4-pin TCXO) and would be a welcomed improvement that would make the
radio function better as well as bring a higher resale value, much the way many
of the other fine INRAD after-market mods do.
If you have even a remote interest in this mod I would like to hear from you,
either here or off-list! Note that I have no connection with INRAD or Ten Tec
other than being a customer.
Ron N6IE
ron@n6ie.com
www.N6IE.com
(Formerly N6AHA)
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