[TenTec] Orion's lack of color

[ac5e at comcast.net]

Well, if you must have a scientifically approved "color display" have it in red and white, red background and white lettering. While the difference between white on red and black on white is small, it's there. And it's the primary reason you see so many red signs with white lettering. As in Coke, Burma Shave, and a host of other signs intended to be read on the fly. The eye has much less acuity (ability to distinguish separate elements) with every other color combination. 

And yes, the military does use multi color displays. But the intent is not to improve instrument readability - it's to get more information in a comparatively cramped multi layer display. If the target turns green, pull the trigger. 

Color television replaced B/W because color was intensively marketed and sold as a loss leader for quite a few years. RCA/NBC sunk a ton into promoting color, and all the early sets cost far more to make than a dealer could get for them. The first sets to make a profit for the factories arrived some time between 1964 and 1966, depending on who you talk to.

But if color TV's were still as expensive as a luxury automobile most of us would get our daily dose of political propaganda from a black image on a white screen. 

And I have had a rig with a color display and didn't lose a whole lot of money when I unloaded it on someone a lot less demanding than I am. Personally, I might pay another ten bucks for a color display - but I would pay a couple of grand more for a factory built SO2R rig, a couple of hundred more for a second built in antenna tuner, and another fifty for a ten message DVK/CW Keyer. What else? Can't think of anything else I would like in a rig. If the Orion isn't perfect it's much closer than anything else I have seen. 

73  Pete Allen  AC5E