[Orion] Bugs and Firmware Suggestions for Orion

[Gary Tuck]

Jim, I've seen others mention the AM 2.5 kHz tuning bug and mine 
doesn't operate that way.  I just confirmed by tuning the sub receiver 
while in AM in 1 and 10 and 100 hz steps.  On your second point, I'm 
not sure if I would want "xm" speed if the basic step size is 100 kHz.  
The way it is with 100 kHz selected, I can get from the top to bottom 
of 20m in a fraction of a rotation.  For 10 m, it is less than a 
quarter of a rotation of the tuning knob.

I certainly do agree with some of your suggestions.  Cycling thru 3 AGC 
settings and then OFF to move from medium to slow is cumbersome indeed. 
  I would also like an easier way to adjust power output while in the 
tune mode.  If I wish to tune my amp at a level higher than 20 w while 
in the TUNE mode, then I have to turn the keyer off so it will output a 
steady carrier.  I choose to do it this way rather than select Tune and 
then Pwr.  I find the VFO A knob too close to the Sub receiver AF 
button.  I, too, inadvertently turn the audio on. As far as disabling 
transmit, I just deselect whichever VFO is set for transmit.  No 
transmit buttons are lit and transmit is disabled as far as I know.

I've got my little list of grumbles as well, AGC pop on stronger 
signals, delays while turning BW, Cut and AF knobs introduced by 1.372, 
etc BUT overall, this is the best rig for the money I have to believe.  
At least it is in my environment.

73, Gary - W7TEA


On Jan 3, 2005, at 6:13 AM, James C. Garland wrote:

> Hi Gang,
> I've been using my Orion over the weekend and noticed a couple of 
> bugs. Also, I have a few firmware suggestions that would make the rig 
> more user friendly.
>
> A. Bugs:
> 1. Pressing and holding the PWR button for a few seconds causes the 
> s-meter to lock at 100.
> 2. Pressing the "MAIN RX" button to expand the step size has no effect 
> when the step size is 100 kHz.
> 3. AM tuning in the subreceiver is always 2.5 kHz, no matter what step 
> size is selected.
>
> B. Suggestions for Firmware revisions.
>
> 1. Activating NR, NB, or AN now requires two button pushes. The first 
> highlights the selected button, and the second changes the button's 
> state (e.g., from OFF to ON). It would be better to combine these 
> functions, so that one button push highlights the button and also 
> changes its state. This is the way the Notch button currently works.
>
> 2. Mode selection on the Orion is inconvenient, because to change 
> modes requires two button pushes. First, the MODE button is pressed to 
> select the Mode menu. Then another button is pushed (e.g. USB) to 
> select the mode. After pressing the second button, the radio reverts 
> to the menu display.
> A better idea, in my opinion, is to use the Mode button to toggle the 
> mode menu on and off.  As long as the mode menu is on, the user can 
> then select modes repeatedly by just pushing the desired button. The 
> mode menu would stay active until the mode button was pushed a second 
> time to turn it off. While active, modes could also be selected by 
> turning the MULTI control.
>
> 3. The STEP choices are not optimal, because the gap between 10Hz and 
> 100Hz is too great. The 10Hz setting is too slow for SSB and the 100Hz 
> setting is too fast for SSB. I'd reccommend a step sequence that went  
> 1-10-50-100-1K-10K-100K
>
> 4. When changing modes, the AGC setting doesn't change. This is 
> inconvenient, because one nearly always uses different AGC settings 
> for CW and SSB. It would be desirable for a mode change to also change 
> the AGC to whatever setting was previously used in the newly selected 
> mode.
>
> 5. The pushbuttons for audio mute are still too sensitive to small 
> rotations. It's hard to mute the receiver and subreceiver, because 
> one's finger tends to turn the knob a tiny bit. It would be better to 
> disable the feature that automatically unmutes the receiver when the 
> knob is turned. Then unmuting would require a button push.
>
> 6. The PWR button is used to set output power, and turns from 1 to 
> 100. I would recommed changing it so it turns from 0 to 100. Then one 
> could disable the transmitter by just turning the power to zero, 
> instead of having to go into a menu to do so.
>
> 7.  To transmit a carrier of a particular power, one now has to push 
> the TUNE button, followed by the POWER button. It would be easier if 
> one could just toggle a carrier on and off by pushing and holding the 
> POWER button for 1/2 sec. The radio would then transmit a carrier at 
> whatever power the POWER button was set to.
>
> 8.  The S-TONE button should have a push-and-hold feature for toggling 
> the sidetone on and off.
>
> 9.  (this is an old request). PLEASE change the taper on the volume 
> controls to an audio taper, so that one doesn't have to keep cranking 
> the knob to turn the volume down.
>
> I'd appreciate any thoughts the group might have on these suggestions.
>
> 73,
> Jim Garland W8ZR
>
>
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