[TenTec] Re: Orion

[Martin Ewing]

The display:

I haven't noticed any temperature problems, but I am disappointed in the 
display quality compared to other LCDs you would buy these days 
(computer monitors, PDAs, cell phones).  A lot of hams don't seem to 
bother about these issues, but they annoy me.  To wit,

1.  It's monochrome.
2.  It's one-bit (on-off) monochrome, not even grayscale.
3.  It's low res (320x240)
4.  Because of 2 & 1, the characters show jaggy borders.  No anti-aliasing.
5.  Contrast ratio (light/dark) is low, I'd guess less than 100:1.

Compare with my computer display that is 20", 1280x1024, 32 bit color, 
400:1 contrast ratio. Of course the monitor cost me about 1/5 of an 
Orion, but scaling down to 320x240 the price should be more reasonable.  
The point is that, to a computer person, the Orion display looks like a 
PC out of the early 1980s.

Color or even grayscale would allow for a lot more intelligent & 
effective display design.

Even so, it's a good and usable rig, as I always try to say!

73, Martin