[TenTec] Orion issues

[ac5e at comcast.net]

Weeellll - I have a pretty good antenna for 20 and up, and the Orion makes that antenna system much more effective than it has been with other rigs. And yes, I have had other TOL rigs here, some for an extended period of time. 

On the other hand, you can only shoehorn so much into a 65 X 80 foot back yard with a large shed and a couple of towers. So my 160-30 Meter antennas are far from being contest grade. Add in a substantial amount of locally generated noise below 12 mHz or so and daytime to midnight low band DX has been pretty much out of the question. 

But the Orion's reciever plus noise fighting characteristics let me work stations I would not have heard well enough to copy with my prior equipment. 

All in all, the Orion will make what you have work better. And if you can upgrade to a really good antenna system it will work even better. Which is why I'm selling this place and moving to the farm. 78 acres for antennas! 

73  Pete Allen  AC5E
> <<<Many contesters spend tens of thousands on towers and antennas to be able 
> to work one more layer of weak stations underneath the noise. The Orion's 
> ability to dig these stations out in the presence of strong signals is a 
> bargain. Even a 4-stack can't do that!>>>
> 
> What's implied here, I imagine unintentionally, is that if you get an Orion, 
> you can do without really excellent antennas.  Before someone runs out to 
> get an Orion instead of a high performance yagi up high on a tower, and 
> thinks the Orion is equalizing things, let me say that antennas, always 
> always trump everything else if you have the cash and the space.  You gotta 
> get a signal before the fancy stuff inside can do anything.   Given a choice 
> between a dipole and an Orion, or a Scout and a rhombic farm or rotatable 
> dipole curtain, I'll take the latter any day.   An extreme example for 
> illustrative purposes.
> 
> Rob Atkinson
> K5UJ
> 
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