[Orion] Help request on Orion I

[ke5c]

I think you will have to send it in.  My Orion (I), bought new about two 
and half years ago, did strange things like this from the time I 
received it.  At first it only happened occasionally, and I blamed it on 
firwmware glitches since those were rampant or at least alleged  to be 
on the reflectors.  The firmwares got better yet my problems became more 
frequent.  I did the V2 mod without any reduction in adverse events.  In 
retrospect, I should have sent the thing back while it was still under 
warranty, but like you said, that's a hassle.  I used Fedex ground the 
last time, and I know it under $30 to send it to the factory, but I am 
closer than you.  Sorry, but it's a great receiver when it's working.

ARL SIXTY TWO es 73, John

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:19:50 -0700
From: "Lee Armitage" <LEE at GJ.NET>
Subject: [Orion] To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Cc: Orion at contesting.com
Message-ID: <008001c725f5$c66e4880$0400a8c0 at LeeGX620>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I sent the email shown below last night and received an auto responder 
that the Service Department at Ten Tec was closed for the next four days 
for Christmas.

It is an Orion I S/N 04C10584 running 1.372 firmware. The jumper wire 
mod has not been done for Version 2.

I thought perhaps another Orion owner reading this reflector may have 
had the same problem and could give me some direction.

I have only had the Orion I for a week and am in the early learning 
stages with the manual. Definitely an Orion newbie.

Power supply is Astron RS-35M with 13.78 output with rig on.

I did a Master Reset and cleared user memory when I got the rig last 
week.

The only thought I have had and this is a wild guess on my part is to 
download the 1.372 firmware from Ten Tec or get it from a local friend 
that has it on CD and reinstall the firmware. Does this make any sense?

I would prefer not to spent $150 round trip shipping to Ten Tec if this 
an operator error on my part.

Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions anyone has.

Lee Armitage
N0LYW/AE
Western Colorado
970-234-8989




----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lee Armitage
To: service at tentec.com
Cc: Lee Armitage ; Steve Van Houweling ; Steve Grewe
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 1:43 AM
Subject: Orion I S/N 04C10584



Good Morning Paul,

Lee Armitage, N0LYW, here. We spoke yesterday about the fact that when 
you turn this Orion on after it as been sitting overnight the screen 
remains blank for about two minutes until full clear display after the 
led's light up in the analog S meter. The first thing you see if the 
freq that the radio is tuned to after a full minute and a half or more.

If the radio has been used and is turned off and within a few minutes 
turned back on, the Ten Tec screen comes up and then the freq pops up 
which seems normal to me.

My guess is what happens when the radio has sat overnight is that the 
screen is so cold that when it is tuned on the Ten Tec screen does 
always display but is not visible and then a minute later the freq 
SLOWLY comes into view. The room temp is usually 65 to 75 F, not that 
cold.

I could live with the screen situation, but wanted to mention it in case 
it is related to a more serious issue outlined below.

Sometimes when I walk away from the radio, leaving it ON,  for an hour 
and return the six control knobs located directly above the main tuning 
knob are all disabled. I cannot change volume on either receiver, the 
MULTI knob will change nothing regardless of what is selected on the 
screen and the RIT/XIT knob will not work. Before I walk away all of 
these knobs are working perfectly and nothing has been changed by myself 
to disable these knobs.

I can turn the radio off and back on and this may fix the situation, but 
not always. When it has failed and I do the off and on routine with the 
radio, you can see the MAIN AF knob try to move the volume screen bar 
indicator, but after a slight jiggle, nothing more happens. The MULTI 
knob remains disabled.

Essentially, when one knob works, all six work. When any knob has failed 
all six have failed.

Then at other times, the off and on routine, fixes all the knobs and the 
work perfectly for quite a while.

I believe the CUT and PUT/BW knobs also fail along with the other four 
knobs and will confirm this next time I have this failure.

When the six knobs have failed other parts of the radio seem to continue 
to function normally, but I have not done any extensive test of this.

The previous owner, Steve Van Houweling, WB0UGO, said that if the radio 
needed repairing within the first 30 days of my ownership he would cover 
half the cost, so I am trying to determine if this problem pre-existed 
my ownership. I noticed the blank screen when I first took it out of the 
box and turned it and had to wait over a minute to see anything and then 
if very slowly showed the freq.

The six knobs going dead happened the second day I used the radio.

I will give you a call Friday morning and see what you recommend.

If we can trouble shoot and repair it here by telephone I am happy to 
pay you the normal consulting fee for this help.

Other than these issues which I am sure are solvable, I love the radio 
and it easily outperforms the FT1000MP it replaced.

Thanks and 73,
Lee Armitage N0LYW
Western Colorado
970-234-8989