Hmmm, some of you need to cut back on the coffee...
The O2 is a fine radio, well positioned in the upper reaches of ham radio
transceivers...
The biggest whine I see is that they are not producing enough firmware changes
to make you happy..
It appears that some believe the K3 radio with its rapid parade of firmware
revisions is somehow superior because it needs frequent revising - this does
not bespeak superior, to me; adaptable maybe, a secondary hobby in it's own
right, but not necessarily superior......
Then I read the moaning about the O2 sweep; and they didn't do this, they
didn't do that, etc...
Last time I checked the ads the K3 does not have a sweep screen... But
somehow, not having a sweep screen makes it the superior radio, because Orion
is not upgrading its sweep screen fast enough - the logic of that escapes me...
If you want a radio with a fancy sweep screen get a Pro III...
If you want an even fancier sweep screen get an LP PAN for your Orion / K3...
If you want an even fancier radio get one of the $11K to $13K models from the
land of the rising sun - but don't expect the factory to answer the phone and
put the technician that built and aligned your radio on the phone to talk you
through a problem - which both Orion and Elecraft do routinely...
I happen to have the O2... I have looked hard at the K3 with the more capable
sub receiver - as recently as 2 weeks ago... But, the less desirable
ergonomics of the radio outweigh the receiver advantage and I opted to stay
with the Orion for the third year... The O2 has the best combination of
receiver and ergonomics I have found in 45 years of ham radio...
Lastly, I am thrilled to have Ten Tec and Elecraft slugging it out in the ham
radio arena... A vast improvement over the import radios that have dominated
the ham business for some time..
And while I am mentioning US companies, let me point out that PALSTAR acquired
the Commander amplifiers and has put considerable time, innovation, and money,
into improving those amps until they appear to me, to be the best amps in the
business... They now have a complete line of tuners, meters and high quality
amps... You could do a lot worse than spend your ham dollars with them - and
drive that amp with a new O2 or K3...
denny / k8do
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