[Orion] Help request on Orion I

[ac5e at comcast.net]

Lee, from the excessively long time to boot up from a cold start I would suspect a voltage regulator problem.  There have been a couple of reports of long boot up time associated with a bad reg chip.  So it would probably be a good idea to repack it and ship it to Paul at Ten Tec.  It's well worth the cost. 


73 es GL,  Pete Allen  AC5E

--
Amateur Radio, emergency communications when all else fails

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "ke5c" <ke5c at hot.rr.com>
> 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
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Orion mailing list
> Orion at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/orion