[TenTec] Ten-Tec Orion - Initial Impressions

[Thomas Jednacz]

SSB:


One thing that I noticed is that the mike gain must be set much higher on
SSB to deive my Alpha 76CA amplifier than it does on CW.

** Thanks for a nice in-depth report. Great Job! You probably know this
already but it
might help others. Proper adjustment with a linear is to set the drive in
TUNE
and then the MIC GAIN. Suggest you push the PWR button then TUNE button and
adjust with
MULTI knob the output required to drive the amp. When switching to SSB do
not change
PWR level. Adjust the MIC Gain until the RED LED just starts flashing. Now
the
Orion and the amp are properly adjusted for clean operation.


Receiver:

This coming weekend I plan to put the receiver to the ultimate test
during the CQ CW WPX contest.

** Me too.

Now, the down side:

3) To do a split operation (transmit on one VFO and receive on the other)
requires doing three things:

** Ten Tec has provided software commands to remotely operate the Orion. I
love
the one button split capability I had on the 756 PRO but there was not
enough room
on the Orion to have that feature. N4PY with his new Orion software will
most likely
incorporate that feature because the commands provided by Ten Tec will allow
it to be
done. There will be many new features available that are not now implemented
because
of the lack of button space and to keep the menus simple.


73, Tom, W7QF