[TenTec] Am I the only one ?

[Eric SENSI]

Hello you all,

I'd like to say that I do not really agree with those who think that I'm the
only guy complaining about the Orion, also I do not think we're only 4 or 5
hams on earth having troubles with this radio; the great difference in my
opinion is that I have the courage to say that this radio needs some radical
improvements - a "back to the drawing board" for me is needed for some
functions implemented in that radio too.

Please believe me, It's not that easy to recognize that you've made a big
mistake by choosing this or that radio that's not working the way it should
! Just think of the money involved, regarding my familly, do you really
think it's easy to say to your familly that this radio should be replaced by
another one because it's not "compatible" with your environment ? After the
second Orion leaves home a couple of weeks ago, wife and familly got really
nervous : "hey man, what are you doing with your money ?"... It was a hard
decision to take but now the 2nd Orion has been sold, I can tell my familly
that I was wrong about that choice, I tell them also that I've lost our next
holidays in the sun... sincerely do you really think it's easy to live with
?

So now, I really want that, some of you (not all, I got some friends too
here !) stop thinking that I'm a stupid ham who never reads the Orion manual
because it's not only a manual affair unfortunately.

One thing too, regarding the bunch of personal e-mails I got in my mailbox,
I received lots of messages to support what I'm saying on this reflector.

You have maybe 4 or 5 hams complaining, okay... but maybe there's hundreds
of them standing in the shadow too. No one can exactly tell that ! Not to
mention the guy who is too proud to say that this radio is not working as
expected even if the price tag is high !

On the other side, I'm extremely happy to hear that some Orion's are working
perfectly even in some extreme RF environment (KW amplifier). It is a proof
that the radio is not bad at all, but it is not the case in every radio
shack.

I'm pretty sure that the guys a Tentec could easily cure the RF problem (the
Orion is very sensitive even with a small amount of RF feedback coming into
it !) and the microphone pre-amp circuitry, I think it will not be so
difficult for them !

Even a poor radio like my new Mark V is armoured like a tank in that
particular domain and even the MH-31 hand microphone gave me this evening an
unsolicited report : "Are you using a studio microphone with your rig ?" !
;-)

So, if Yaesu did it again, why not Tentec ?

Anyway, now I consider myself as an "eham" and "review" victim thanks to the
internet ! It's better to live with your time, isn't it ? :-)

Merry Xmas to all.

It's 11:36PM now here and I can hear some JA stations on 3795KHz on a 66'
multi dipole ! :-) Radio is a kind of magic and that's why we all love our
hobby.

Eric, ON6CV.