[Orion] Orion II Speech Processor

[Merle Bone]

I ran some calibrated tests with the Orion V1.373b5 and V2.062a. You can see the note, below,  that resulted. I had the RF output level on the Orion set for 50W and I was getting between 26W and 31W out. You can see the resulting compression results. Close to no compression from SP settings 1 thru 4. SP of 5 is about 5dB of compression; SP=6 is about 5-10dB of compression;SP=7 is about 10dB of compression; SP=8 is about 10-15dB of compression and SP=9 yields about 15-20dB of compression. I use SP=7 or 8 and get very good audio reports. SP=9 starts to get a slightly harsh sound, but still completely understandable. 

Audio settings and the H/W Mic Gain depend very much on the microphone being used as well as any external audio processing equipment you might be using. With the right audio settings and the RF output set for 100W you should be able to get 50W to 60W output on SSB with the SP set to 9. Another fellow did the same tests with the Orion II and got essentially the same results (Reported on the Yahoo TenTec 565 reflector).

Hope that is useful,
73 - Merle - W0EWM
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Although the Orion V2 code still has some problems/issues with performance, one 
area that appears to have been addressed in the V2.06X releases is the speech 
processing performance. Earlier versions of the V2 code suffered from a 
combination of audio distortion and weak, if any, compression. The V2.06X 
releases clearly sound like the distortion has been addressed and that the 
compression is much improved. I recently bought an LP-100 Digital Vector RF 
Wattmeter from Larry (N8LP) http://www.telepostinc.com/lp100.html . Among the 
many functions provided in the LP-100, Larry recently added new code to allow 
the user to measure the "effective audio compression" of a transceiver. The 
technique uses an audio test tone pattern ( the one I used had a 1KHz tone with 
alternate 50MS time segments with the levels 20db apart).
The RF power meter samples the power level 40,000/second to generate average 
value. I used an "audio sound power meter" to measure the audio level of my 
voice calling DX and then used the sound power meter to set the test tone to 
the same level (Using a single level tone) into the microphone.

I tested the V2.062a code and got the following results:
Proc Setting               Audio Result                                    RF 
Result Average Power
Off                                    Slight Expansion                         
   ~8W
1 - 4                                  Close to no Compression               
~9-10W
5                                         ~5dB Compression                      
~12W
6                                      5-10dB Compression                      
~13W
7                                       ~10dB Compression                      
~16W
8                                     10-15dB Compression                     
~20W
9                                     15-20dB Compression                     
~26W 

I tested the V1.373b5 code and got the following results:
Proc Setting                Audio Result                                    RF 
Result Average Power
Off                                     Slight Expansion                        
     ~8W
1 - 4                                    Close to no Compression              
~9-10W
5                                         ~5dB Compression                      
 ~12W
6                                       5-10dB Compression                      
~14W
7                                        ~10dB Compression                      
~17W
8                                      10-15dB Compression                     
~24W
9                                      15-20dB Compression                     
~31W

In all cases the peak power stayed very close to 39W - which is what I use to 
drive my Alpha 87A to 1500W peak output.

As you can see from the results they track very closely - so closely that they 
almost look like the same algorithm! There is a slight difference at the 9th 
level on the Speech Processing but it is very minor (And might be altered if 
the mike gain were increased). At a Speech processing level of 7 the talk power 
is doubled from the level with the Speech Processing off. At the 9th level 
there is roughly a 6dB (1 S-Unit) improvement in the talk power of the rig. I 
usually stop at eight but there is no audio "background noise level increase 
even at 9 (Maybe a very little hum). The audio sounds very good in the monitor 
and the quality was verified by a friend. The talk power improvement is very 
important in trying to work SSB DX.

I think the Orion V1 code has the best Speech Compression I have ever seen in 
an HF radio and now it appears that the V2 code matches it! Thanks Ten-Tec!
73, Merle - W0EWM