[TenTec] TT Orion: Also SEMI-BK-IN possible ?

[Ulrich Hilsinger]

Hello,

a lot of words have been exchanged for the QSK/PTT theme - for me, just 
another problem concerning QSK operation is important right now while 
planning my station upgrade:
If I purchase the ORION, I want to use him not only for HF Contesting & 
DXing, but also for my VHF/UHF contest activities too. Doing this, I 
will use my existing VHF/UHF equipment. I'm absolutely not shure about 
the QSK-proofness of the components in my actual configuration, 
especially if regarding this from a MTBF point of view. I even would 
state: It is not really QSK proof.
Actually, for this reason, I operate the equipment in semi-break-in 
(only during longer periods without dot or dash, the TRX switches to 
RX), which can be defined with the VOX adjustment.
Is such a semi-break-in possible with the ORION ? Otherwise, I'll get 
some problems and probably have to use some awful tricks to get it 
integrated in my VHF/UHF contesting environment.

For those knowing the VHF scene a bit: The current equipment for 2m 
consists of a TS850S, a SSB-Electronic LT2S-MKII transverter and a BEKO 
HLV300 MOSFET linear amp. On 70cm, the same TS850 feeds a LT70S which 
powers a BEKO HLV120/3 bipolar amplifier. Cables to the antennas are 
short, so no care has to be taken about preamp sequencing: there are none.
One of the two bands, most probably the more difficult 2m band, shall be 
moved to the ORION. The other band will be handled by the TS850, 
allowing something comparable to SO2R operation :-). It would be fine to 
have everything running for the ARRL international DX / SSB part, which 
is on the same weekend as our next big VHF test.. humm I nearly should 
by 2 Orions for that purpose :-)
And yes: it is out of question to change the VHF/UHF equipment, that's 
just a few eurocents too expensive...

By the way, the last time I used manual PTT keying for CW was when I 
operated my old IC202 for some contest and DX QSOs on 2m... that's been 
back in 1996... I really do not see a drawback in the "missing" PTT 
abilities. As long as a semi-breakin decay time can be set high enough 
for the problem described above.


73,
my best wishes for 2004,

Ulrich DH0GHU
dh0ghu at dh0ghu.de
http://www.dh0ghu.de