[TenTec] Orions & contesting

[Michael Tope]

W4PA wrote:
> >
> >  You have now achieved 1 through 4 on your above needs list.  #5 is
> >  going to have to be up to you.
> >

I would have to agree with Yuri on the importance of #5. I operate from a
club station that is setup for Kenwood radios. If I plunked down $3.5K for
an Orion, I would probably want to drag it over and use it at the club
station
where we have real antennas. Compatibility with the Japanese standard
(PTT control of T/R function on CW) would make it a lot easier to do this
and would be a definite plus in my book.  Although I grant that any clever
person should be able to engineer their way around this obstacle, it still
means time invested, which at least in my case, is never plentiful.

K3BU wrote:
>
> NOT!
> I have wired the Orion as you suggest. But it does not perform as it
should
> with "normal" PTT control and as it is required by this and other
contesters
> pushing the envelope. TX EN does not work as PTT. TX EN will allow or
block
> transmitting, but does nothing to switch Orion from RX to TX mode, it is
not
> silencing the receiver (and allowing CW monitor to be heard if TX keyed).
QSK delay
> does it and overrides that. If I adjust QSK delay to eliminate the relay
> chatter and defeat QSK, I am adding "word delay" at the end of each
keying. This
> has to change with speed in order to be kept at minimum (pain in the
neck). The
> reason for using PTT control is to allow more precise control of
transmission
> timing by computer controlling the PTT line and keying line. Orion doesn't
> know that I have finished transmission and want to switch to RX
immediately, my
> computer knows it and lifts the PTT line in the shortest (programmed)
time.

Which contest software are you using, Yuri. Trlog inserts a fixed delay ("X"
number
of milliseconds) between the CW key envelope and the PTT signal. I don't
believe
it changes with speed.

73 de Mike, W4EF............