[TenTec] E-Ham Bad Orion Review

[Ken Brown]

Hi Mike,

There are many radios that have much better performance than the Drake 
2b / 2BQ Heath DX-60 / HG-10, and do not get "stuck" and require 
rebooting or power cycling to start working again. So I do not think 
that insisting on consistant and reliable operation means that one must 
accept 1960s tube technology performance.

I hope that someone, maybe Ten-Tec with a new firmware release for the 
Orion, can demonstrate that top level performance using microprocessors 
and DSP, can be accomplished with reliability and consistancy. I believe 
that is a reasonable expectation from a production radio, just as 
reliability from a commercial airliner is a resonable expectation. I 
think that a much lower level of reliablity and consistancy is 
acceptable for a homebrew project or laboratory feasability 
demonstation, be it a radio or an airplane.

I have never tried an Orion and don't own one. So I dont know, perhaps 
all the people who post reports of their Orion's getting stuck and 
requiring a reset to get them working again, have failed to pay 
attention to all details in their firmware download procedures, or have 
done something else wrong.

You may be the first person to call me ultra conservative.

73 DE N6KB
 
Mike Hyder -N4NT- wrote:

>I've got a Drake 2B / 2BQ and a DX-60 / HG-10 that'll be right down your
>alley, Ken.  If the Wright Brothers had your ultra conservative bent,
>airliners wouldn't need wings.
>
>73, Mike N4NT
>  
>