[CQ-Contest] Re: CQ-Contest Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20

Tue May 18 10:01:59 EDT 2004

Actually Yuri, rumor has it that Ten Tec is going to counter the new Yaesu &
ICOM rigs sometime soon.

It will be three Orion's in a blister pack!

Seriously, I don't understand your continued animosity towards the Orion in
particular and Ten Tec in general.  While I don't own one yet, I have had
many opportunities to use one from a local ham, both in casual operating and
in contest situations, and I've never had a problem with it.  For that
matter, outside of a few minor tips the owner showed me (which I would have
caught on to quickly), I found operating the Orion to be very intuitive,
unlike some of the recent offerings from the Big Three.  And I don't
understand your complaints about ergonomics; a color display would have been
pretty, but other than that, I never ran into any of the concerns you
mentioned.

I think the "how many people" comment about returns deserves some
quantification.  First, how many is "how many?"  Second, let us not forget
that no matter how well a rig is designed, your dream rig is someone else's
nightmare, so matter what, there will always be returns.  And third, let us
not forget that Ten Tec, to their credit, has the most liberal return policy
around.  Naturally it gets taken advantage of (in both senses of the term!)

Finally, I think that crack about the "Ten-Tec hallelujah" reflector was
uncalled for.  Just because someone doesn't agree with you, that does not
mean that they are a zealot for the other side.  Careful reading of the
reflector posts over the last few months would clearly show that while most
Orion owners are very happy, there have been problems (what rig doesn't have
problems in the production run?), there have been returns to the factory,
and some have gotten their money back.  You don't have to "lurk" there to
find this out.

73, ron wn3vaw

----- Original Message ----- 
> Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 13:36:57 EDT
> From: K3BU at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Dayton atendees - tell us about the new
> Yaesu
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Message-ID: <155.3517208f.2dda5239 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Howdy conquesters!
>
> I will report briefly on things that were of interest to me in the area of
> rigs, receiver performance and where are we going.
>
> If I had to judge by Icom and Yaesu offerings in the top end (heavy
suckers)
> radios, like IC7800 and FT9000 (bigger number Eh?), then gentlemen, start
your
> engines! This at least according to Icom display featuring cutout
automotive
> engine, racing jackets, pile of JA rig drivers, or perhaps helpers to
carry
> the radio. This is when seen from the distance. 7800 is reality, looks
nice,
> ergonomics are supreb in the Icom fashion, I would say decent value for
the
> money.
>
> In the other corner, from closer look at Yaesu booth, not much racing
stuff,
> except more mature version of K7JA and bullet proof plexi case over
FT9000,
> the DX DNA "thing". This must be on steroids, because the sucker would
require
> one and half JA sumo carriers. Rumors are that it will weigh about 70 lbs.
For
> sure 400 W Godzilla among the rigs. Judging by the plexi condom, this was
just
> cardboard mockup, dummy, there was no action on the displays, just as
shown
> on the brochure.
>
> So, in the competition for the biggest, baddest mother of all radios,
appears
> that Yaesu is the (theoretical) leader, with Icom real thing right behind
at
> 50 lbs and with bunch of "happy" owners already. In category of
performance,
> Icom radio is out, can be measured, tested and some real specs will be
> available soon. Yaesu has only foggy specs, everybody is claiming out of
this world
> performance, beating the others, but indication based on reality is not
exactly
> IT.
>
> Rob Sherwood, AC0B gave RX performance and testing presentation at the
> contest forum. He outlined importance of front end design architecture and
presented
> some data on his tests. The clear winners are the old/new classic radios
with
> low IF single conversion mixing scheme and at close spacing front end
> overload test the leaders are Orion and "Sherwooded" Drake R4C. The
detailed chart
> should be posted on Rob's web site. IC7800 was down on the totem pole and
at
> close spacing test (done by ARRL on pre-production sample) is not what the
foggy
> specs are claiming. It should be noted that marketing departments of the
> biggies are not shy of blowing things up, especially at their own
unspecified
> terms. So before I would plonk my hard earned dollars for any of those
over $10k
> pieces of furniture, I would wait for more info and test results
especially
> because I care about overload and selectivity performance.
>
> The Orion, as I reported earlier in my review (www.K3BU.us) has excellent
> strong signal handling capabilities, filtering, good clean transmit
signals, but
> lot of ergonomic shortcomings and unfinished buggy software engine. For
this
> contester, it does not fare well for those reasons. When you read
advertising,
> they all say THIS IS IT! When you get your hands on IT, it is something,
but
> not IT. It has one thing better, then the others, but it is left to the
user to
> pick the least of the evil based on what you don't care for. While talking
to
> contest buddies at the hospitality suites, I was quite surprised to find
how
> many people had problems with Orion and sent it back. Lurking on "Ten-Tec
> hallelujah" reflector you will not find this out.
>
> As far as contester's concerns, and expeditioners in particular, I doubt I
> would take any of the above on expedition. The scratch on the covers might
take
> away $3k out of the price. I would not check it in for the airline
Gorillas to
> play football with gem like that and it is definitely out of question to
fit
> IT in carry on luggage.  IC7800 is more realistic in that department, but
> FT9000 is more for people with private Yacht or airplane.
>
> Don't despair. George, W2VJN is working on, displayed some, and coming out
> with roofing filters for the rest of the "old loser" radios like FT1000D
etc.,
> so don't dump them yet. While they would still use high IF upconversion,
but
> the improvement in performance would rival IC7800, going from 60ies some
dBs to
> high 80ies (Orion is in low 90ies). My personal opinion is that this is
the
> more realistic alternative to $10k gorilla radios. If you like expensive
> furniture and big size and money is no object, the go for it and enjoy the
sculpted
> monsters.
>
> DSP is coming on strong, displacing more and more circuitry, making things
> more flexible, shrinking size and cost. Quite a few vendors displaying DSP
based
> receivers and spectrum analyzers. Not ready for prime time yet, but around
> the corner. Interesting times are ahead and contesters have a lot to look
> forward too. More help with operating and integration of
> computer-radio-gadgets-software is on the horizon.
>
> My personal impression  is that Orion is "bad" enough, I enjoy it's strong
> signal handling performance, hate its guts for quitting on me in the
middle of
> the contest run, clumsy controls and ergonomics, but for the run radio it
would
> do, if supplemented with IC781 or other race horse. IC7800 or FT9000? Not
at
> this time and for THAT money. I am not into collecting expensive
furniture. I
> beat my radios on the trips, no diapers around here, I look for
performance
> and functionality for decent price. Until my "Dream Radio One" becomes
reality I
> am happy with Orion, FT1000D, IC781, TS950 (all filtered and modified) for
> serious contesting, TS870 for carry on expeditioning, IC706 for portable,
mobile
> fooling around.
>
> Personally, I got preview of what's cooking and got reinforced in my
strategy
> and design goals for "Computeradio DR1". I see what is available, where
the
> technology is going, I know what I and other's want. After I was
challenged by
> one of the Ten-Tec Cult worshippers to design better radio, I decided to
> embark on the task of putting together that DREAM radio I and YOU have
been
> dreaming about. The project has started, design is in progress, the DREAM
TEAM is
> coming along very nicely, so soon you will be able to enjoy the radio
station
> that will outperform the rest for a reasonable cost. Those interested can
check
> the web site www.computeradio.us for the latest info and any comments and
> requests for features are welcome.
>
> It was a great pleasure to be back in Dayton after long pause, meeting old
> friends and competitors, I enjoyed the forums, dinners, midnight pizza
with old
> contesting buddies. Now back to salt mines.
>
> 73 Yuri, www.K3BU.us
> www.computeradio.us home of DR1
>
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest