[Orion] Orion and version 2.056 - Getting the best performance by modes

[Jerry Volpe]

As I mentioned in my previous post I am a new 'old' Orion owner having 
bought a barely used one from Ten-Tec last month. It took me over two 
years to make that decision. As it was I had to part with a number of my 
other Ten-Tec rigs to offset the price and that was hard to do... but it 
is done!

The first few days with the Orion were not particularly pleasant. It 
came with 2.056 installed and it seemed I had a number of weird issues. 
After a few days I back-rev'd to version 1.373B5 and discovered an 
entirely different rig personality. After a few days I tried 1.372 and I 
stayed there for about a week.... trying to get a feel for how it 
worked. Last week I switched back to 2.056 and I've been there for about 
a week now. The weird issues I mentioned are still there but not 
particularly hard to avoid. My thinking was that Ten-Tec's work in the 
future will be based on this firmware version and not the old 1.3x 
firmware... so that really seemed the best place for me. Now if the 
Orion was my only rig my decision might be different. Fortunately it 
isn't as I kept my Corsair II and Triton IV stations which I thoroughly 
enjoy (I am all about the clarity of the receive sound..... if it isn't 
pleasant to listen to then I probably won't use it) and I continue to 
use them daily. I am, however, using the Orion more and more as computer 
control is very important in some of my operations. Consequently, with 
use I am getting better at obtaining a more pleasant sound as I get more 
familiar with the Orion under 2.056.

So if you are using 2.056 I am very interested in what you have 
personally discovered as far as settings are concerned... Particularly 
those that are working well for you related to what your 
receive/transmit operating goals are (PSK, CW, casual SSB, DXing, 
contesting, whatever).

Jerry, KG6TT
Fairfield, CA