[TenTec] Orion at field day

[w.marty.ray]

Hello, all. I managed to get in a few hours at the local field day site this year. I enjoyed a few minutes on the K2 on 20m cw, then I went to the 40m cw station for a while. For several years, the 40m cw station has been using a Heathkit (can't remember the model number, but it's the transceiver with digital readout...5400?). Nice older rig, good qsk, but it was suffering severe front end overload and I had to back the rf gain way back. We were getting overload from both strong signals on the cw band and also from the 40m ssb station next to us. One of the guys there was thinking about buying an Orion, so I asked him if he wanted to test drive mine. He said "sure!", so I went home and brought it back. We hooked it up on 40m cw and the results were incredible! No front end overload...not even from the 40ssb station right next to us. (The 40m cw and 40m ssb dipoles used a common end support, with the antennas at right angles. We couldn't even tell they were on the air until they came over to ask us if we were having as much trouble with inter-station interference as they were having.)Awesome selectivity.

I was curious how the Orion was going to work in tough conditions, now I know. Everyone that used the Orion was impressed. I'm not sure how many of those guys have experience with high-end radios, but I have used several decent radios in contests including the IC781, FT1000D & MP, TS940 (still have mine), Omni VI+ (my other radio at home), K2 (sold mine to help fund the Orion), TS850, and a few others I can't recall right now. Now, I'm not going to say I can remember exactly how each radio performed and rank them, but I can tell a good radio when I hear one (as well as one that has some issues). The Orion is definately a top performer. We were working weak qrp stations with S9+30db stations less than 1kHz away. As a matter of fact, I found that I had to open up the bandwidth a little because I could get 'too close' to another station's frequency without even knowing he was there...no matter how loud the other station. We saw everything from S-3 to 40+db over S-9. I had to give each operator a quick tutorial before getting started. I had a couple of guys ask me how to use the rf gain and/or attenuation. I told them not to worry about it, you won't need it! I did try turning on the preamp just for fun and I could detect some overload and some IMD, but that was to be expected.

The agc was interesting, too. I normally use the PROG setting with the threshold near minimum, but the factory MED setting worked best for field day. I never use the FAST setting. It seems really harsh...the band noise is just too much, too quick. Perhaps it has its use, but I don't know what it would be.

The transmitter was great as well. The SWR climbed to 2:1 later in the evening, and the Orion never had a problem with it. QSK is lightning fast. I ended up adding 15% delay and still had two ops comment on how fast and smooth it was.

Up until this weekend, I had yet to really use the binaural receive feature. I am not a big fan of extra fancy features that really aren't value added. If it doesn't help get the job done, it is just in the way. That is how I had classified the binaural rx. I tried it when I first got the radio, was unimpressed, and disabled it 'til now. I thought it would be one of those bells and whistles that never was really useful, but I changed my mind. The first op to use the Orion wanted to try out the binaural rx, so I showed him how to set it up. Later, when I sat down at the rig, (after everyone had a chance to try it out first!) I found a clear frequency and called CQ. I immediately realized that the binaural feature was going to be turned on a lot at home. I managed to generate a decent sized pileup a few times and it REALLY helped to separate the signals! I was pleasantly surprised. 

Now for a couple of complaints. I don't want to anybody to accuse me saying the Orion is perfect.  8)  When adjusting the bandwidth, I have a tendency to bump the adjacent H/L CUT knob. I guess that really isn't a fault, per se, but still annoying. Also, the cw sidetone seemed to have a funny sound that I can only describe as a 'rattly overdriven speaker'. It wasn't very pronounced, but detectable. The sidetone af gain was set at 39 and the pitch was changed throughout the evening. (btw my Orion has been back for the mods). I haven't noticed it at home, so I thought it was rfi. I backed the power all the way down, but it was still there. I'll have to check this out more carefully at home. One last observation. With the antenna connected to ANT1, we heard a LOT of signals on ANT2 (with no antenna). The signals were down about 60dB, as judged by the S meter. (ie: S9+35db on ANT1 and S-5 on ANT2). I don't remember seeing a spec for this. Perhaps someone can comment.

Even with a few gripes, this radio is a huge success for TenTec. I am really happy with it and am ready for CQWW, Sweepstakes, and the 160m contests this fall/winter!

I was a little hesitant to bring it out, but I'm glad I did. 

Summary: Bullet-proof front end. Great selectivity, awesome dymanic range, excellent QSK. In general, a great contest radio!

Regards,

Marty Ray, N9SE