[TenTec] ORION QRQ tests - schematics

[Martin Ewing]

I have the Orion schematics, but many important functions are hidden 
away inside the CPU -- Xilinx & Sharc code, etc.  That's very "black" 
because they don't publish the firmware source.   I wish they would do 
that!  Or maybe someone braver than I could reverse engineer the firmware...

The hardware schematics are probably all there, but they are not 
presented in a way that helps you understand how things work (many small 
sheets with signals that jump off to who-knows-where).  The contrast 
with my classic Kenwood is profound.  The whole rig was all there on one 
big schematic, which mere mortals could begin to decode. To be fair, it 
is harder when your chips have hundreds of pins.

Martin, AA6E

Tommy wrote:

>The Ten Tec schematics for the Orion are downloadable from the rfsquared web
>site. You may need a magnifying glass to read them, but they are available
>to everyone.
>
>Tom - W4BQF
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Martin Ewing" <martin at aa6e.net>
>To: <tentec at contesting.com>
>Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 6:49 PM
>Subject: TT Re: [TenTec] ORION QRQ tests
>
>
>  
>
>>I'm not sure. You may have noticed: the Orion is a black box! :-) That's
>>one reason this reflector is so busy. There was precious little mystery
>>about my previous rig, the TS-520S. The schematic said it all.
>>...
>>