[TenTec] Product Reviews

[Grant Youngman]

> On the other hand, we read on this list of a fairly large number of
> ORIONs that do not play right out of the box, that have some features
> not yet working properly or at all, and that seem to require ongoing
> upgrades and firmware changes to correct various irregularities that
> seemingly would have been caught and corrected prior to > > 
shipment.

Yes, I know .. I will once again be accused of being a Ten-tec bigot 
or whatever the latest term is.

But this simply isn't true.  You make it sound like there is largely 
garbage being shipped from the factory.  That's patently false.  
Fairly large number that don't play?  What?  Maybe I don't count 
well.

There were some early bugs in the control interface.  There are still 
a couple floating around.  The "whine" problem (both the radio's and 
the user's) has apparently been fixed, with a factory service bulletin 
and even a factory gizmo to stave off the wolves until people get 
around to sending the box back for an update (maybe when there 
are several).  Other manufacturers seem to leave the "updates' to  
INRAD or W8JI ...

What is left now seems mostly to be "user preference" items, 
operator error, and lack of understanding of how to use the features 
of the radio, some early missing explanation on what to expect from 
and how to use things like Programmable AGC and NR.  And 
judgment calls based on results obtained without that 
understanding.  

I've heard a number of "problems" reported that turned out to be the 
fault of the manual index rather than the radio, or lack of reading the 
manual at all.

I thought we'd already worn eveyone out on this general topic?  
Each Icom I've ever owned ( a total of 4) had several "irregularities" 
that Icom never commented on.  And never fixed when a couple of 
the radios went back more than once.  Of course, there was always 
the "next" one .... pretty hefty fee for a DSP fix.

Grant/NQ5T