[Orion] Re: Orion raspy on CW? (Charlie, W0YG)

[D.W. Fearn]

A few months ago I was getting reports of awful keying with my Orion.  Some 
described it as "fractured" and un-readable.  On 80M one guy about 200 
miles away said I had key clicks over the entire band.  The sidetone 
sounded fine.  No reports that it was raspy, however.

This went on for a while as I experimented into a dummy load and listening 
on another receiver.  The keying was definitely bad.  This persisted 
through a couple of firmware updates.  I talked to Ten Tec service about it 
and they were convinced it was a bad coax.  But it wasn't.  The rig seemed 
to be generating huge spurious outputs because into an antenna the 
reflected power on a separate SWR bridge would kick violently only on key 
release.  (It was fine into a dummy load.)

I was about to ship it back for repair when the problem suddenly went away 
and has never returned.  I had changed nothing that I am aware of.

There are still some CW issues for me: about once every 15 minutes, the 
keying locks-up momentarily.  Makes me sound like a fool.

A more subtle problem is evident when I am using a bug.  I think there are 
times when the microprocessor gets too busy to follow the dots and the 
spacing is affected.  It's not too obvious, but I notice it.  My old 
Corsair II doesn't do that, nor does my ancient Viking Valiant.  The old 
rigs do not shorten the first element, either.

The keying seemed to be much better when I first got the Orion.  Perhaps 
some firmware updates have had unanticipated effects.

I have faith that Ten Tec will solve these problems.

Doug K3KW



>Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 14:10:59 -0000
>From: "Charlie, W0YG" <w0yg at myawai.com>
>To: "Orion Reflector" <orion at contesting.com>
>Subject: [Orion] Orion raspy on CW?
>Message-ID: <000701c3ef16$92af3220$18801cac at charlieg34wnzz>
>Precedence: list
>Message: 1
>
>I have a neighbor, well I say neighbor but he must be 15 miles away, that
>complains about my raspy note on CW with my Orion.  I don't hear it when
>listening to the monitor nor does another neighbor, just a mile away,
>complain.  However this morning, this same neighbor indicated that a station
>that frequently CQs on top band also must have an Orion because the note is
>quite raspy.
>
>Has anyone ever gotten these kinds of reports?  I find it strange that a
>Icom 756 user, not the PRO or PRO II, would complain about the raspiness of
>the Orion.  What could be going on?
>
>For information, the Icom 756 is old technology employing crystal filters in
>the various IFs.  It is not a DSP radio so a mis-setting of the DSP which
>could cause all kinds of distortions as per recent threads on the Icom
>756PRO II yahoo reflector, is not an issue.
>
>Any comments?
>
>73,
>
>Charlie, W0YG..>>