[TenTec] Highlights of German Orion Review

[Rick Westerman]

Dear Ten-Tec fans,

 The following is a summary and translation of the ORION test
printed in the January, 2004 edition of the German "FUNKAMATEUR"
magazine.

Disclaimer: I have translated this to the best of my ability and
believe it reflects the jest of the message portrayed.  I take no
responsibility for errors in translation and or interpretation. -
Rick Westerman, DJ0IP / NJ0IP

I have read the article and picked out points that the author
liked as well as the points that he did not like.  I show them
below in the two categories, "GOOD" and "NEGATIVE".

These are listed in the order in which they appear in print.

GOOD:

* The title is "Dxers Dream Rig: The new ORION from TEN-TEC"
* Opening Statement: TEN-TEC has come very close to the wish of
Dxers and Contesters for a new rig that implements the latest
technology to be able to copy the weakest signal under the worst
possible [disturbance] band conditions.
* They are very pleased with the information and tips on using
the Orion (posted on the TT website).
* The display and the relatively far apart knobs enable a very
comfortable operation
* The effectiveness of the selectable roofing filters to
eliminate the undesirable signals immediately after the first
mixer is a invaluable advantage.
* The excellent PLL and the good RX performance as a result of
extremely low phase noise.
* The very clean transmit signal resulting from the low phase
noise.
* The DSP AGC
* The true "hang" AGC and the ability to adjust its threshold and
decay.
* The outstanding DSP Notch and the fact that it is the first rig
with an Auto-Notch, which works on the IF.
* The Panorama-Stereo does enhance operation in pileups and
enables less-stress operating.
* The powerful DSP (audio adjustments) together with the wider
filters enable hi-fidelity SSB (for the ever increasing number of
followers of this fad)
* The Model 302R is a great help to the second operator [in
contests]
* ORION also has TEN-TEC's legendary QSK-keying enabling hearing
between dits at up to 150 characters per minute (30 wpm)
* The "Instant Two Radio Mode" enables quick frequency change
between two bands (including the linears and antennas) which is
good for hunting for Multis on other bands in the SO2R class.
* In the summary: "A different and unique rig that sets new
standards".  You can live with its imperfections".
* In the summary at the end, they are particularly enthused by
the 40m RX performance (they insinuate that the ORION is the only
rig that can still copy weak signals with the Preamp switched on,
without generating any unwanted signals of its own).

Negative:

* The headphone jack can hardly be distinguished from the key
jack and the fact that the rig's audio circuitry can possibly be
damaged if one plugs the wrong plug into the wrong jack.
* No carrying strap on the side of the rig
* Difficult to use (initially) without the manual
* He does not think the Power On/Off rocker switch is fitting for
the way the rest of the rig looks and operates.
* Boot-up time is 13 seconds.
* The display very legible, bigger than that of the IC-756PRO,
but it is not in color and the viewing angle is somewhat narrow.
* Fast tuning over a band can be accomplished in a couple of
ways, but it's a bit clumsy.
* His first attempt to update the firmware failed.
* The fact that the memories also save bandwith in addition to
frequency and mode is undocumented.
* Attempting to save more than 500 or 600 characters into the cw
memory results in a processor crash requiring turning the rig off
and on.
* Saving the voice memory text requires 18 seconds, regardless of
length of text.

It will be interesting to see their measured results, but I have
no idea when that will be available.  Like any magazine, they are
trying to get as many miles out of the test as possible.  We'll
have to buy two issues to get the whole story.

73
Rick