[TenTec] Buying a New Orion?

[John L Merrill]

Don:
You may have already and probably will get flamed by the "cult". But your
concerns are legitimate. I too am annoyed by all the minor firmware glitches
but have held on to mine for 4 months.

The unfortunate thing is that with equipment controlled by
firmware/software, there seems to be allways bugs to be cured or new bugs
appear after old bugs are cured. I work in the television broadcast business
and most all equipment is now firmware/software controlled. There is  never
ending bugs to be cured. And just as you think a new firmware upgrade has
cured problems, it introduces others.

But now you ask yourself why don't I have these issues with my PROII or MkV
Field other than performance issues?

Isn't ham radio fun?

73,
John N1JM

-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Don Rasmussen
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:24 AM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] Buying a New Orion?


Hi Guys,

I had an email exchange with a new Orion owner today
and here is how he ended it:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, still a bunch of gremlins but I'm willing to pay
the price to play with this amazing radio.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I worked two spanking new Orions on 15m CW yesterday,
the guys LOVE them.

But it seems that the Orion has been factory debugged
for almost a year now, and beta fixed for several
months before that.

If an Orion is sold today at $3600, what would be a
fair amount of time to expect it to be 100%, given the
list of issues at RFSQUARED.com? And is it fair to
expect that all of these issues will be addressed
before TenTec stops fixing bugs to move to new
development?

The problem is, as long as there is ever a larger bug
that crops up, the little ones don't seem important.

I'd expect some of "the faithful culture" to suggest
that $3600 is a cheap ticket for cutting edge
technology. That as long as the larger bugs are
addressed in decent time, the smaller ones can be
ignored. After all they pale in comparison to the
benefits of cutting edge technology.

But while the cutting edge is always diminished over
time, bugs live forever. ;-)

$3600 into the Orion may be the best money you ever
put in an amateur transceiver *if* Ten Tec fixes
absolutely positively every last tiny little bug that
is reported.

I read in the Orion groups that bugs have sticking to
the list for longer that they should have already. The
goal should be 756Pro class performance, mine hasn't
needed a power reset in the two years I've owned it,
nor have I ever pressed a button that put it into an
"unwelcome state".

With the ARRL review out, opening the door to
mainstream acceptance of the rig, the honeymoon is
just.. about... over..

What's your Orion worth two years down the line?

Ten Tec holds all the cards on that one, I'm hoping
they go the extra mile for everyone - but it won't be
cheap or easy.

73,
de WB8YQJ/6





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