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

To: "Wes Attaway \(N5WA\)" <wesattaway@bellsouth.net>, "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec@contesting.com>
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: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:58:50 -0700
List-post: <mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
They probably should have released this as a beta first. In fact, I wish TT would return to the days when they had volunteer beta testers in the field to give them valuable feed-back.

           Ron  N6IE
      www.N6IE.com

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wes Attaway (N5WA)" <wesattaway@bellsouth.net> To: "'Ron Castro'" <ronc@sonic.net>; "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10:42 AM
Subject: RE: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!


It sounds like TenTec has someone "new" working with the software and who
doesn't have a firm grasp of what is going on.  It is definitely hard to
understand why they released something with so many defects.

There is obviously a lot of interaction between many of the functions so
whoever is doing the programming would need to have a real good
understanding of how the radio works.  They would also need to be able to
turn the radio on and use it. Based on user reports, it doesn't sound like
this is the case.

All-in-all, it is a baffling situation.  It has to make everyone wonder
about TenTec's commitment to the O and O-II.

If the code and appropriate notes were released into the public domain then
maybe some of the users could do a better job.


------------------ Wes Attaway (N5WA) ------------------
1138 Waters Edge Circle - Shreveport, LA 71106
   318-797-4972 (office) - 318-393-3289 (cell)
       Computer Consulting and Forensics
-------------- EnCase Certified Examiner ---------------


-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Ron Castro
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10:50 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!

I'm glad we're only test piloting software and not airplanes, or I'd be a
goner for sure!

           Ron Castro
 Chief Technical Officer
    Results Radio, LLC
               N6IE
      www.N6IE.com

----- Original Message ----- From: <Rsoifer@aol.com>
To: <ronc@sonic.net>; <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7:34 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!


Ron and others,

Many thanks for your fine work.  After playing with 2.042A overnight,
I've
re-installed 2.041XT and will await T-T's next try.

73 Ray W2RS


In a message dated 4/14/2010 2:45:00 A.M. GMT Standard Time,
ronc@sonic.net
writes:

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
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