[TenTec] Orion QSK speed

[Bob Henderson]

QSK T/R turnaround on the Orion is certainly slow and I can readily
understand why some find it unacceptable.  Certainly QRQ QSK is something
that Orion currently just doesn't do.  In this case QSK is defined as the
ability to hear between character elements.

Each of the following QSK capable radios in my shack exceed the capability
of Orion in this regard:  Elecraft K2, TS570, TS870, TS930, Omni VI+,
FT1000MP, FT1000MP Mk V Field.

That said, my Orions beat the pants off all of these rigs for general
utility of use in my types of on air activity.

I've seen it said that T/R turnaround was better under earlier versions of
firmware but I believe that to have been an illusion caused by the
truncation of character elements inherrent prior to 1.370.  This truncation
provided an inappropriately long inter-element period in which T/R
turnaround could take place.

It has been suggested Orion's T/R turnaround is limited by DSP processing
time but the TS870 is a much older DSP radio and it has much faster QSK than
Orion so I suspect there is something else going on with Orion.

It would be nice to think that improvements are in the pipeline for this.

Bob, 5B4AGN