[TenTec] System that's already straining?

[ac5e at comcast.net]

Yes, the Orion is state-of-the-art, at least it was at the time the design was finalized. But from experience all computer related hardware becomes obsolescent between the time the design is approved for production and the first unit is assembled. That does not keep the device from being state of the art for several years, or in some cases a decade or more. 

Considering what the Dragonball does in other mediums you can bet there's plenty of horsepower to do what's necessary in a radio. So no, the system does not seem to be trying to squeeze too much performance out of limited resources. 

Fetch and replace time is another matter - it may not be possible to drastically speed up some of the functions because of the time it takes to dump one set of parameters, fetch another, load that one, and verify that everything is as it should be. 

However, according to the stopwatch it takes just over 0.3 seconds to go from 20 SSB to 40 CW. And probably a tad less, since I'm not as fast as I used to be. It takes me almost two seconds to put five shots inside the 8 ring from my Model 57, and I used to be able to do it in 1.77. Sometimes, anyway.

Of course, I was at my late brother-in-laws house when he had a seizure. His wife called 911 and I ran out the door to corral their guard dogs. It took just over 4 minutes for the EMT's to get there but Gwen swears it was over 20 minutes. And I seem to remember holding two vicious-to-strangers dogs by the nape of their necks for a half hour or more - while my wife insists the EMT's had Woody loaded and on his way to hospital in less than seven minutes.  

Things sure seem to move slowly when you are excited - and even slower when you are in a bind! So maybe the Orion is not really as slow as some of the comments on the reflector would lead you to believe. 

Still, it's probably possible to speed up the time between the first "attention, processor, I want to adjust this" button push and the second "ON NOW" push. Perhaps other timing adjustments can be made - such as reducing the time you must push a volume encoder to make the thing stay muted. And the NR algorithm may well be on the list for improvement. 

All things in due time - and at least Ten Tec is constantly improving the product. Something the makers of many of the severe disappointments I have had in the shack failed to attempt.  

But I do wonder about one thing. I regularly home in on fairly rare DX stations by tracking down the source of key clicks and phase noise. How will we get the jump on the competition when everyone uses an Orion? 

73  Pete Allen  AC5E