[Orion] a non-owner plays with the Orion

[w3sz at comcast.net]

Hello, All!

I am as of yet a non-Ten Tec owner who has been very interested in the Orion since
before it was announced as the Orion, having heard rumors 'way back when'.  I spent a
lot of time drooling over the particuar unit displayed at Dayton this year [if the
unit you got had water spots that is why].

My main interest is in weak signal VHF, and for what I do I need an HF receiver with
excellent strong signal handling capability as well, due to local very strong signals
with whom I share the bands.  So the Orion seems to be just the ticket for me.

This weekend I went to a friend's place where 4 of us played at multi-multi for the
CQ WW SSB contest.  The rigs there were an ICOM 775, a Yaesu FT1000D, a Kenwood TS
994.  At home I use a Yaesu FT1000MP MkV and an Elecraft K2 with all the options,
including the DSP.

To my surprise there was also an Orion there to be used!  I nearly fell over, as my
friend had not told me that he had gotten this in just in time for the contest.

The first thing that struck me on seeing the Orion was just how beautiful the radio
is.  It really has a very professional, elegant appearance, much more so than any of
the rigs I mentioned above, and much more so than the more recent Japanese equipment,
which I have also seen.  I really like the display, too.  To me the cries of some for
a color display mean that those criers have just flunked the IQ test -
radio-appearance-preference version, that is.

The finish of the Orion was strikingly good, too.  And the feel of the switches and
knobs is very pleasing.  The ergonomics are very good, also.  I sat down without a
manual and very quickly felt at home.  That doesn't mean that I know all there is to
know about the rig, or that I set the controls in ideal fashion.  But it DOES mean
that I was able to use the rig without any problem or hesitation, due to the
excellent layout and labeling of the controls.

The receive audio of the rig for SSB [and CW to which I surrepititiously listened
during a brief lull in the middle of the night] was stunningly good.  I have never
heard such superb audio on a commercial radio before.  The signals had a 'live' and
'immediate' quality that is hard to describe but which was really breathtaking.  I
have not heard this with any other radio I've used, except for a homebrew [software]
receiver, and I think the Orion beat even that.  The quality made me think of the
accolades I've read over the years about the sound of direct conversion receivers.  

The complete lack of receive problems stemming from the adjacent 3 radios all running
the legal limit, from other adjacent strong signals on 40 meters, etc was most
impressive.  So the hype and test report figures on IP3, etc really are borne out in
my brief experience.  And the filter scheme really does function beautifully. 
Weak-signal handling capability seemed superb, too, although I didn't have as much
time as I would have liked to fully evaluate that;  I feel like one really needs to
spend a lot of time with a radio to get an operational feel for that aspect of
things.  But I have no concerns there, given the large number of positive reports
I've heard in that regard.  I think that the rare early complaint in that regard was
due to the complainer's not learning how to set the radio up properly.

I identified no problems or issues or unanticipated 'features' [as the software guys
call them] in my all-to-brief exposure to the Orion. 

Now I REALLY want one, and will get one as soon as some other projects in the fiscal
pipeline are completed.

So that is my subjective, first time user's report on the Orion.  I thought some
might like to hear from a non-Ten Tec owner, as we all tend to subjectively favor
those things in which we have an 'ownership' stake.




73,
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
FN20ah
http://www.qsl.net/w3sz