[Orion] Orion SWR readout

[bob finger]

Hank:  I believe the swr fluctuation is normal.  Wish we could just turn 
it off.  My analog wattmeter is always quite steady in that 
regard......I would not worry about it.

In Tune, the Orion puts out 20 watts....not enough for your external 
wattmeter I would guess...but so what...the difference is minimal at 
best and the guy on the other end will never hear the difference between 
1.1 and 1.4 to 1

I set all of my "tuned" antennas and my Ten Tec 425 amp "by the 
numbers".  I have not "tuned up" since I got my Orion some 17 months 
ago...went thru the tuning process, made charts for all knob settings on 
the amps/tuners etc. and posted near the knobs.  When changing 
bands/frequency I simply set em "to the numbers" and operate.  Me thinks 
you are being far too particular about all this.  By the number has 
worked for me for over 40 years now, and I have never replaced a final 
tube due to mismatch or mis tuning.

One other thing, the Orion, like many solid state rigs, has a bit of 
overshoot in power for the first few characters sent on cw.  This may be 
what is causing your meter to "jump around" as you say.  The Orions 
overshoot is about 10% of power out ie if set for 100 watts, the first 
few characters in cw will be about 110 watts, then it settles down 
(unless you use qsk, then most everything is the first few characters).  
Something to keep in mind if you are driving a low drive amp....not a 
concern with the Centurian as you cannot overdrive it with the Orion. 

Set it and forget it is my solution, and maybe a piece of black tape 
over the Orion swr indication hihihi 73 bob de w9ge




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