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Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!

To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>, "Kim Elmore" <cw_de_n5op@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
Reply-to: Ron Castro <ronc@sonic.net>, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:54:41 -0700
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
I think that "bug report" e-mail address went away long ago.  Try 
service@tentec.com.  That will probably go to someone who will actually read 
it and respond!

BTW...I have updated my "Wish List" with what I found out about 2.042A at:

http://n6ie.com/Wish%20List2.htm

Hopefully, someone at TT will avail themselves of it...it's probably the 
most complete, unbiased compendium of problems and suggestions anywhere on 
the web.

            Ron  N6IE
       www.N6IE.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kim Elmore" <cw_de_n5op@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>; "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" 
<tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!


> I've also found the same things that Ron has found. I haven't verified 
> audio quality in SSB yet, though I have briefly tested in SSB. I found 
> that the H/W mic gain needed to be increased by 3 to 6 dB with the panel 
> mic gain set to 75. FM generates about 20 W output while AM generates 
> about 8 W output, both with the TX power set to 100.
>
> AF AGC "sticks" as if the hang time of the AF AGC is set to "infinity."
>
> The noise blanker works better than it did and may even be useful in CW.
>
> Both the waterfall and spectrum displays look much better.
>
> What's the address that we use to send bug reports to TT?
>
> 73,
>
> Kim Elmore N5OP
>
> At 09:44 PM 4/13/2010, you wrote:
>>I keep hoping that it's something simple like a hiccup while I was 
>>flashing
>>the new firmware, so I'm interested if anyone else finds the same things 
>>I'm
>>finding in the behavior.
>>
>>             Ron  N6IE
>>        www.N6IE.com
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Gene Henderson" <wb9hla@comcast.net>
>>To: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>; "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
>><tentec@contesting.com>
>>Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:26 PM
>>Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
>>
>>
>> > Ron,
>> > Looks like someone forgot to install this on a radio and see if it 
>> > worked.
>> > I agree with you
>> > not even close to Prime Time
>> > Gene WB9HLA
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
>> > To: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>; "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
>> > <tentec@contesting.com>
>> > Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 21:50
>> > Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
>> >
>> >
>> >> Addendum to my post:  on problem #1, I'm referring to the RX audio. 
>> >> TX
>> >> audio (other than more drive needed and processor problem) still 
>> >> sounds
>> >> broadcast quality.
>> >>
>> >>            Ron   N6IE
>> >>       www.N6IE.com
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Ron Castro" <ronc@sonic.net>
>> >> To: <tentec@contesting.com>
>> >> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 6:41 PM
>> >> Subject: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>> Here are a list of problems I found right off with the v. 2.042A, 
>> >>> even
>> >>> after doing a battery reset and two master resets and memory clear:
>> >>>  1.. Very noticeable distortion on all audio.  Sounds like overdrive 
>> >>> in
>> >>> IF
>> >>> or DSP section.
>> >>>  2.. AGC hang in AF AGC.  S-meter goes up and never comes down!  At 
>> >>> same
>> >>> time, RF gain goes down and does not come back up.  If you manually 
>> >>> turn
>> >>> the RF Gain all the way to 0, then back up to 100, the radio is
>> >>> essentially muted.  This will not happen if the "AGC Hang" setting is 
>> >>> 0,
>> >>> but then distortion is really bad.
>> >>>  3.. NR does not work in AF AGC mode.  Does seem to work well in RF 
>> >>> AGC
>> >>> mode.
>> >>>  4.. Much more audio drive needed on AUX input for SSB.  It looks 
>> >>> like
>> >>> about 10 dB more.
>> >>>  5.. AM carrier= 1.25 Watts max!  That's at 100% PWR setting.
>> >>>  6.. FM carrier= 6.4 Watts max.
>> >>>  7.. SSB Speech Processor gives only around 50 Watts max peak output.
>> >>> You
>> >>> can get it up to 100 Watts when you crank it to "way beyond 
>> >>> reasonable
>> >>> distortion".
>> >>>  8.. Could not find any sort of S-Meter calibration
>> >>> Here are the good points so far:
>> >>>  1.. Side tone is louder and spot level is too.
>> >>>  2.. Waterfall display is much improved.
>> >>>  3.. Difference in frequency between Main and Sub improved, but still
>> >>> not
>> >>> "phase locked".  I detect about 0.1 Hz differential which should make 
>> >>> it
>> >>> fine for true diversity antenna work.
>> >>>  4.. In RF AGC mode, the NR really does seem improved, although it's
>> >>> hard
>> >>> to tell with the audio distortion mentioned above.
>> >>> So that's the good, the bad and the ugly of it!  I'm QSYing back to 
>> >>> v.
>> >>> 2.039d, the last one that worked right...
>> >>>
>> >>>            Ron  N6IE
>> >>>       www.N6IE.com
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> TenTec mailing list
>> >>> TenTec@contesting.com
>> >>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> TenTec mailing list
>> >> TenTec@contesting.com
>> >> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > TenTec mailing list
>> > TenTec@contesting.com
>> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>> >
>>
>>_______________________________________________
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> 

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