[CQ-Contest] ON4UN and the Ten-Tec Orion

[john devoldere, ON4UN]

 Hi friends DX-ers, contesters and low(top) band DX-ers!

 I have been usings a Ten Tec ORION transceiver for several months. I
thought
 maybe you'd like to have my comments on this new radio. Here it is:


 1/ looks
 I first saw a prototype of the ORION at HamCom in Dallas in 2002. I liked
 the looks. When I saw the specs I liked the radio even better. I picked up
 my new ORION in mid-June 2003. My first impression has not changed: clean
 layout, knobs and controls positioned just where they should be, good-sized
 tuning knobs that feel very well. In one word  "it all fits my hands and
 fingers". And it does not have the looks of the mass consumer electronic
 gadgets, it's sober and very functional, which is what I like.

 2/ software updates and response
 Maybe the greatest innovation brought about by the ORION is the concept of
a
 top-notch radio with firmware updates via the Internet. This makes it
 possible to provide continuous and free of charge improvements. That's the
 technology of today. It also made it possible for TT to release a product
 early 2003 that maybe was not 100% complete, but at the same time avoided
 making us eager contesters and DX-ers wait another 6 months for the radio.
 It also is undoubtedly the best way for TT to get live feedback from the
 field. Some (very few) people seem to complain that Ten-Tec is regularly
 improving the ORION.Those who don't like this idea do best to wait a little
 longer until all wrinkles have been ironed out and all sensible and
possible
 suggestions of the customers have been implemented. I, for one, decided to
 go ahead and get one of the earlier ORIONs, and decided to be part of this
 improvement process, and add my 2 cents worth. Contacts with TT have been
 excellent. Jack (K4JU), Doug (KF6DX), Gary (AC4DL) and Scott (W4PA), were
 all one very responsive and all ears for comments, suggestions and even
 complaints!

 Response to my suggestions was swift, and in a matter of weeks a great
 number of the suggestions I made were implemented. I was happy to be an
 informal Beta tester for their firmware updates, and I spent many hours
 trying to make things go wrong. At the end the software became so thorough
I
 felt miserable trying to make things go wrong! I've heard of a few people
 who did not like the concept of firmware updates; they obviously have not
 yet understood the power of this advanced concept. My reaction: let them
 come, the firmware upgrades, I know each time it is a further improvement
to
 the product.

 Some ergonomic shortcomings, mainly in the radio control software, which
 were part of the first few firmware releases have all been taken care of. I
 did not return my ORION for these shortcomings, I decided to be part of the
 ongoing improvement process for this product, and add my inputs. This way
 the final ORION has a little bit of myself in it!

 3/ manual
 The original manual was not great (I am polite), I agree, but that's been
 taken care of now, and since September 22nd, anyone can download the latest
 manual from the TT website. Scott, W4PA, took care of that. The manual
 covers just about every aspect of the radio. Of course, the radio is so
 flexible there are literally hundreds of ways you can set it up to do
 exactly what you want it to do. I assume that lots of these configurations
 will be made available by the users on the TT reflector. As indicated in
the
 manual, the Orion is indeed a substantially different radio from what we
 have known so far. It is no secret that the first thing that attracted me
is
 the excellent dynamic range (also at very close signal spacing), which
 should be a real asset for Low Band DXing and contesting. Ten-Tec
 implemented the DX-ers' and contesters' wishes that were published in the
 3rd edition of my Low Band DX-ing book. Other non-US manufacturers largely
 decided to ignore the inputs from DX-ers and contesters until now.

 4/ testing basic specs at W8JI
 After I picked up my unit in the US early June, I drove to Tom, W8JI and we
 tested the dynamic range and sensitivity (MDS) in his well-equipped lab.
 What we found was within measurement error of what TT publishes, in other
 words: excellent! We also had a really close look at the transmitted CW
 waveform, and it is excellent as well. Now at least and at last I can be on
 CW without having to fear someone calling me with a "you have key clicks"
 comment.
 I have been playing with the Orion in a few contests, where it gets really
 crowded, especially on 40m. Amazing: in between signals, the band sounds
 quiet. No blurps, beeps and other alien weak signals that sometimes sound
 like CW using a different code. Nothing like that. What you hear is what's
 there! The narrow front-end filters really do their job. My radio has got
 all of them

 5/ The AGC issue
 The use of the AGC (the programmable setting) requires a good understanding
 on how the radio works. Of course TT could have left out the programmable
 settings, and could have fixed us up with just 3 or 4 "fixed" standard
 settings.  After discussing this to a great length TT decided to make all
 settings programmable: a sign of confidence that TT trusts that their
 customers will take the time to understand the radio and use its
 capabilities to its fullest extent!

 TT has in their latest manual a section explaining how to set the AGC
 variables (also available on their web site). Make sure you study this and
 fully understand it before starting to play around with changing the 3
 variables involved.

 We have read on various reflectors that in the beginning apparently some
 hams started experimenting with the AGC without knowing what they were
 doing. And they were disappointed. They fooled themselves, I am afraid. I
 must admit it's easy to be fooled, as the lowest setting of the AGG
 threshold does -as a rule- not give you the best sensitivity! I found that
 approx. 2.0 - 3.0 uV is a good starting point to experiment. It's not
 because you hear more noise at 0.4 uV that you have a better S/N ratio! On
 the same issue of sensitivity: I have done hundreds of A/B tests between my
 old radio (the most popular brand with low-band DX-ers and contesters) and
 the ORION (at the same time, not with 1 or 2 weeks in between!) and I have
 never (whatever band) found the ORION not to hear a weak CW-signal that I
 could hear on the "old radio". To the contrary! But I was listening to
 CW-signals, not to carriers (I'm not really interested in "working" steady
 carriers or broadcast harmonics).

 6/ BW
 One of the great assets of the ORION is the continuously variable IF
 bandwidth. If the band is not too crowded or if there is not too much QRN
 you may want to use 800 or 1000 Hz BW on CW, otherwise you can crank it
down
 all the way to 250 or 150 Hz. Great thing is that at 150 Hz  bandwidth
there
 still is not a trace of ringing. Noise content in such a small bandwidth
 becomes very low, but you must be tuned right on the spot! On SSB it is a
 joy sometimes to listen to good audio with 3 or 4 kHz bandwidth. Sounds
much
 like AM. With the PBT you can really adjust everything until it just sounds
 right. Flexible, smooth and easy. The measured bandwidth and resulting
shape
 factor are:

 Nominal BW (Hz)  -6dB BW (Hz) -60dB BW (Hz)  Shape factor
            100                    150                      440
2.9:1
            250                    240                      470
1.95:1
            500                   510                       820
1.6:1
          1000                   980                     1160
1.2:1
         1600                 1580                      1880
1.2:1
         2400                 2300                      2650
1.15:1
         3000                 2930                      3270
1.12:1
         4000                 3960                      4280
1.08:1

 Although the shape factor at narrow bandwidths may not look spectacular, I
 have found this set-up where CW ringing is totally absent, to be the
 smoothest and most efficient way of obtaining the most suitable BW for
every
 individual situation. TT has informed me that they will change the display
 so that the most narrow bandwidth displays 150 and not 100 Hz.

 7/ NR
 The noise reduction works extremely well, a dramatic change from what I had
 in my previous radio.

 8/ Notches
 Another nice feature is that we have two notches: A DSP automatic notch for
 carriers on SSB, and a hand-adjusted notch  (frequency and bandwidth are
 adjustable) for use in CW! Yes also on CW a notch can be very handy
 sometimes.

 9/ Panoramic stereo receive
 The Panoramic Stereo receive feature is great fun: when using stereo
phones,
 signals move from one side through center to the other side in your
 headphones as you tune across the band. Help reducing fatigue when working
 long hours on CW.  It should also be useful in quickly working multiple
 callers in a pileup.

 10/ Using it on CW
 On CW-transmit the ORION is a real joy to use. Beautiful waveform, good
 keying characteristics, and with the continuously variable bandwidth down
to
 150 Hz, a real delight. The built-in keyer works great as well, and the
 legendary Ten-Tec QSK works as well as ever.
 W8JI found out, and I can confirm this, that for weak signal CW reception
 especially in presence of noise (QRN) it seems best to select the roofing
 filter manually (250 Hz) and then set the DSP bandwidth to approx. 500-800
 Hz.

 11/ using it on SSB
 On SSB I have been receiving nothing but excellent audio reports, even from
 the experts on 14178 kHz! The fact that you can adjust almost anything in
 software makes it possible to obtain good audio with a very wide range of
 microphones. There is digital audio enhancement (Low and High), you can
 adjust the "transmit filter" bandwidth from 1000 Hz (yes!) to 3900 Hz, set
 the Low end roll of (between 50 and 300 Hz) etc. If you have it set all
 wrong the audio can indeed sound bad, but once you find the proper settings
 success is guaranteed. And TT has published a list of settings for the most
 common microphones in the manual, but I think they need to add Heil HC-4
and
 HC-5 elements, as well as the Heil Pro Goldline microphone.

 12/ using it on FSK
 The ORION has true FSK capabilities (no need to mess with audio tones), and
 in FSK the tones on reception are automatically set for the high tones.
Copy
 of RTTY is flawless with bandwidth down to 150 Hz!

 13/ and on PSK31
 If you are a PSK fan, you can look at 5 kHz of FSK signals, or narrow the
 bandwidth down to 150 Hz, and just have one signal going to your sound
card.
 Ideal! And if you narrow the BW down to 150 Hz, you will also HEAR the PSK
 signal. I've heard people saying that in FSK we can work signals we cannot
 hear at all. This is not quite true, because the sound card uses very
narrow
 BW, and if we use ORION's "similar" BW we can definitely "hear" the FSK
 signals...

 14/ The audio
 The sound from the (large!) built-in speaker is much better than from all
 other transceivers I have had, and there is plenty of volume. Audio output
 on the headphones jack is plenty as well, even if you use not so sensitive
 headphones.

 15/ the second receiver
 The Orion has two radios that sound identical (not like in another 2-radio
 transceiver I had so far where one radio sounded like the "good" one and
the
 other like the "cheaper" one.). The 2nd receiver uses exactly the same DSP
 IF, the only difference with the main RX is that it does NOT have the
narrow
 roofing filters, and that the higher 1st IF make it possible to be a
general
 coverage receiver.

 Whereas the TT-manual suggests that diversity reception is possible with
the
 Orion, it really is not what I call true diversity reception. To me true
 diversity reception is only possible if both receivers are phase locked and
 that the phase delay through both receivers is nearly identical. This is
not
 the case in the ORION. Listen to the same signal through both receivers
 using the same VFO, and you hear the warble (flutter, rapid fading) caused
 by the phase difference. This warble is always there and in my eyes makes
 real diversity impossible. This does not mean that under certain
 circumstances you may not find a benefit in using different antennas on the
 2 receivers on (almost) the same frequency. While TT doesn't claim that
both
 receivers are phase locked, they think that there are advantages when using
 e.g. a vertical and horizontal antenna or two horizontal antennas separated
 by at least a wavelength with the Orion using two radios in a single audio
 amplifier and claim that some of their customers have found this form of
 diversity with non phase-locked receivers useful.

 16/ two transmitter outputs
 With two transmitter outputs, you can almost configure the ORION for a
 2-radio contest station, with two amplifiers. This does NOT mean the Orion
 has 2 transmitters; you transmit either to output A or to output B. The
 Orion has two band-data output connectors, one corresponding to each output
 connector, and this make it possible to steer automatic antenna and
 amplifier switching. Two TX-EN lines (one for each output) can be used to
 inhibit the transmitter in full QSK or also when using a complex antenna
 switching system where such an RX-inhibit line is used to prevent
 transmitting on the wrong antenna or while antennas are being switched.

 17/ firmware upgrades
 Upgrading firmware takes less than 5 minutes. The new upgrades are
announced
 on http://www.rfsquared.com/ . You can download a small program
(update.exe)
 on this site, which you put in your ORION directory on the PC controlling
 the ORION. The serial port interface from the ORION, connecting to your PC,
 will not only take care of the communication with your contesting or
logging
 program, it will also talk to the Ten Tec Flash Update utility program
 (Update.exe). When a new firmware update is available, save it in the same
 directory where you saved update.exe. Follow the instructions from the
 manual, and in a few minutes you have a new, latest model ORION! Great
 feeling!

 18/ suggestions and shortcomings
 On the negative side: the Voice memory keyer is much too slow in saving to
 memory (not useful at all in a contest).

 I also would like to see the possibility to see different external T/R
 delays for SSB and CW. Now you can set one delay for output A (going to
 amplifier A) and another one for output B (going to amplifier B). Having
 separately adjustable delays for SSB and CW should only be a minor software
 change, I think.

 Suggestion: It would be nice if the user could, from his PC, upload HIS
 frequency /mode / bandwidth definitions (a one time task to do, without
 having to control the radio from a PC on a permanent basis). Doing so he
 could just enter a frequency from the Orion keyboard and it would
 selectively make a corresponding standard bandwidth, all this in accordance
 to his frequency / mode / bandwidth chart. We understand this cannot be a
 standard thing as band-planning differs in different IARU regions, and even
 in accordance to individual operators.

 I know TT has thought about these wishes, but not all of them can be on the
 top of their priority change list at the same time. I know they do listen
to
 their customers and try to learn from them to make a better product. Wise
 strategy! By the time you read this, some of these "wishes" are very likely
 to have become true. Bill, W4ZV, eminent top-band DX-er worded it very well
 on the Internet: "KUDOS to TenTec for LISTENING to actual users!  Japanese
 manufacturers must surely be watching the success Elecraft and Ten-Tec are
 having by incorporating real time user feedback into their  products.  If
 they don't soon start doing the same, I believe they will all be history in
 a few years."

 Even as I write the final lines of this report I think I have found one or
 two very minor control software glitches, which I know TT will correct in
 one of their next firmware upgrades. It's great not having to be worried
 about such issues, the people are there at TT to solve them, and the system
 is in place to provide every customer with the solution almost in real
time.
 This is what I always dreamed about!

 19/ Learning curve
 In the beginning you may undoubtedly feel a little lost in the programming
 screens, although they are laid out in a very logical way, and are easy to
 understand, and they shows real words, no cryptic code you need to
decipher!
 But there are so many things you can adjust. This will go away after a few
 weeks, and you will soon feel like a king on his throne being able to
 control just about all the issues of this wonderful radio.

 20/ hardware
 When you open the ORION, your first reaction will likely be: is that all?
It
 indeed looks like an almost empty box. No 1-inch thick bundles or wires,
 just a few (mostly coaxial) cables. The rest of connecting is done by
 back-plane technology, where all the boards plug in. I always jokingly say
 that I can pack my sandwiches and my shoes inside the ORION, and it would
 still accommodate more. Another nice thing is its weight: 20 lbs (9 kg). A
 25 A 13.7V power supply is required, as no PS is built in.

 21/ conclusion
 I have always dreamed of the ideal low band DX-er and contester machine,
and
 I must say that Ten Tec has come very close to my wildest dreams.
 Congratulations to TT for a wonderful product for excellent service and
 customer care. The way TT tries to satisfy the wishes of its customers is
 more than exemplary. The Orion transceiver clearly scores very near maximum
 on whatever scale you can imagine. My order for a second Orion for my
 2-radio contesting station is out and I can't wait to get it! I will be
 proud having a 2 radio contesting station with what seem to me like the
best
 radios at this time on the market. And don't forget that the sunspot cycle
 is on its way down. As a result the low bands will become more and more
 appealing. The ORION may well make the difference.

 22/ The Orion in Europe.
 At this time (early October 2003) the Ten Tec cannot be sold in the EC
 market, as it has no CE label yet. I have been informed that procedure is
 underway to obtain the CE label though, which will make if fully legal to
 buy, possess and operate an Orion in the EC countries soon. I understand
the
 CE-certification may be a fact well before the end of this year, so
European
 potential customers can put the ORION on their X-mas shopping list.


 73

 John, ON4UN