[TenTec] Orion -- Thinking Inside the Box

[Bruce Prior]

Just after learning about the Orion development, I was reading Joe 
Bottiglieri’s review of the Icom IC-756PROII in the February 2002 QST.  I 
noticed that it will decode RTTY on the display screen.  It started me 
thinking about the coming Orion – inside the box.

For those of you whose OMNI-VI+ is front and center at your operating 
position, look at your set up.  Do you have a transmatch?  It could be 
optionally inside the box and be configured with latching relays so that it 
draws no power and makes no electrical noise after it has found its match.  
Do you have an antenna switch?  It could be inside the box, also with 
latching relays.  Do you have a keyer paddle?  I’d like to keep it out of 
the box, but it should plug into a contest-grade memory keyer inside the 
box.  I’d also like to continue using the four remote buttons on my keyer 
paddle to control principal memories.  Do you have a keyboard?  You should 
be able to plug it into the box and use it for any conceivable digital mode, 
including CW.  Would you like a front-panel display screen like the 
IC-756PROII and its predecessors?  Sure, but you also should be able to 
attach a full-sized computer monitor to the box.

The Pegasus is a rig inside a computer.  The Jupiter is essentially that 
same rig in a separate box.  The Orion should be an impeccable rig with a 
full-featured computer inside.  That computer should open the whole digital 
world to the operator.  You should be able to be check your e-mail at the 
same time that you’re participating in a 75-m gabfest.  You should be able 
to monitor the DX Cluster on line while you’re chasing DX or contesting.  
You should be able to compose a letter while waiting to check into the 
weekly RACES net.  The Orion hardware should allow for future developments 
in digital voice modes.  Speaking of the computer inside the rig:  it should 
be configured so that, say, five years from now, you could replace the 
computer motherboard without replacing the whole box.  The computer should 
be designed so that it is configurable to your choice of RAM, CD-ROM, 
hard-drive and sound-card capabilities.  Needless to say, the computer 
inside the box should be engineered with extreme care so that it won’t 
degrade the performance of the rig.

73, Bruce Prior N7RR


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