Rick,
An interesting point you make about ease of use. When QST reviewed the O
II, the reviewer, a longtime Icom user by his own account, was highly
critical of that aspect of the Orion/Orion II while praising its performance.
Well, I was a longtime Yaesu user. My first T-T radio was an Argo V that I
bought for use as a second-station rig (and still have, BTW). It took a
little getting used to, but I wound up having so much fun with it that I
placed an order for the O II even before they began shipping. I'm generally
happy with both.
I guess ease of use depends on what you're used to. Maybe QST should
update its review. Are you listening, Joel?
73 Ray W2RS
In a message dated 11/11/2009 2:20:37 P.M. GMT Standard Time,
nq4i@contesting.com writes:
Hi All...I have to agree 100% with Dennis...I have an extensive M-M
station
and after many months of studying, I came to the realization that the TT
Orion was the radio for my station....the CQWW SSB was our first major
contest with the Orion's and our score was 9 % more than the year before,
and no, I repeat NO equipment failures...The radio is tops in its
class...does not have all the menu items a K3 does, and requires a lot less
learning to master than a K3....a little less complaining from the
bleachers....I am happy TenTec user...never thought I would be saying that
5
or 10 years ago when I equipped the stationen to an all Yaesu station
then...but the Yaesu's are gone and the Orion is in the station now...de
Rick NQ4I (we had 8 Orion's in the station for CQWW)
On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Dennis OConnor <ad4hk2004@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> 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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