[TenTec] It is Back!

[Jim Reid]

Hi,

Fed Ex drove up to my home a couple hours ago.
It was the big,  white box again,  hooray.  Pretty quick
service;  they rcvd it on 7/2, had the 4th of July holiday,
and now the Orion is back on Kauai on 7/11 (is that a lucky
number?).

Got things all connected back as before,  and fired it up.
Came up with firmware version 1.347.  So,  I downloaded
the latest, 1.349 and have it now installed.  Did a Master
Reset and.....all appears to be fine.  Noted during the
download that 1.349 contains 8,960 lines of code;  that
is a good deal more than the 8,687 lines which were in
version 1.342 when I started with an Orion back in mid-May.

Now,  since I am a frequency "absolutist",  my present
experiment is to determine the accuracy of the internal
TCXO setting.  Using the W5YR technique,  I am finding,
about an hour after turn-on that the reading is 1007.5;
or about 7.5 Hz above WWVH here on Kauai.  That is
closer than when the rig left here,  at that time it ran
about 12 Hz below after an hour or so of warm up/stabilizing.
If it remains this close,  I will not be removing the bottom
cover to fool with that TCXO gadget again,  hi.

I see no indication on the work order about fixing a voltage
regulator,  the supposed cause of my original problem.
However,  what was done is an interesting list:

1.  Replaced defective CPU/DSP logic board.
2.  Updated keyer/hedphone board.
3.  Updated main receiver board.
4.  Updated power distribution board.
5.  Aligned TX and RX sections.
6.  Checked all operations,  OK.
7.  After 24 hour burn,  rechecked,  all OK.

So the principal problem behind the failing display
seems to have been the primary logic board,  item
1 in the list.  There is no indicated charge for either
these service items or the return Fed Ex shipping.

Just the usual excellent and famous Ten Tec service
standards applied once again!  Can't imagine why I
keep buying Ten Tec gear.

Guess that should my Henry linear set up ever  give up
the ship, I would buy the latest and best from TT.  But,  am
afraid the Henry is going to last longer than I am,  hi.

Will advise how I find the updated rig functions in time;
propagation remains pretty poor out here as we remain
in "Lahina Days".  We go into "Lahina Days" here on Kauai
after about 26 May;  that is when the Sun stands directly at
our zenith at local noon,  then stays North of our latitude until
well into July.  In fact, the Sun today is at a latitude of 22.1 North;
my QTH latitude is 21.92 North.  BTW,  that is what defines
being in the "tropics"  if/when the Sun travels North of your
local latitude.  Anyway,  that conditions causes propagation
to be less than wonderful during that time,  at least for my
sort of operating,  hi.

Some here in KH6 land have this week reported good openings
to EU later in our evenings.  And now,  I can see what the 60 meter
channels are like with the Orion back in the honored spot here.

73,  Jim  KH7M