[TenTec] QSK/QRQ problem with Orion / ACOM 2000A

[Tommy]

Rick....

Your friends problem is not funny, but I just have to sit here and 
chuckle to myself. For some 14 months I have been talking about this 
problem and having to read the responses of how I must be too dumb 
to know how to set up a ham station. The Keying Loop and the 
constant time-shifted CW characters WAS and it STILL IS a firmware 
problem with the Orion. Everyone will tell your friend that what he 
is experiencing just is not true, but none of these folks are 
running CW at speeds over 40 wpm, they just 'forget' to add that 
fact. But I will tell you that it IS a firmware problem. And at this 
point, I'm almost convinced that Ten Tec does not know how to solve 
it.Unfortunately if your friend calls Ten Tec about this, they are 
NOW telling Orion owners that none of their transceivers are 
guaranteed to operate QSK above 40 wpm, but they can't explain why 
if that is the case, their internal keyer is spec'd to operate up to 
60 wpm! If you look at the spec's of the Orion, you will not find 
any mention of QSK, therefore Ten Tec can verbally tell the user 
what ever they wish, and not have to deal with the problem.

To me, what is really sad, is that Ten Tec built its sterling 
reputation among CW operators of always producing the very BEST full 
QSK CW radio available. This is no longer true today, IF you enjoy 
running CW over about 40 wpm. The sad part, espically coming from 
the company I truely admired for many, many years, it is now 'let 
the customer beware'!

In my opinion, if your friend pays some $3300 + USD for a 
transceiver, plus what ever additional for an amplifier, he SHOULD 
NOT then have to go out and buy a special keyer to make them work 
together!

My Omni 6 Plus was sent back to Ten Tec to revert back to logic chip 
v1.02, simply because it also would not key over 40wpm. I was 
resoundingly told by the manager of the Ten Tec repair department 
that reverting back to logic chip v1.02 "had nothing to do with QSK 
or it's ability to send CW over 40wpm", however after having that 
change made to my Plus, it now works quite well up to 75 wpm.

My Orion still will not work correctly when using my Titan 3 
amplifier in the Keying Loop, however, maricously, the Titan 3 plays 
flawless when being driven by my Omni 6 Plus or my Icom IC-781.

Tom - W4BQF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NJ0IP" <Rick at dj0ip.de>
To: "Tentec at Contesting. Com" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 4:24 PM
Subject: [TenTec] QSK/QRQ problem with Orion / ACOM 2000A


> One of our local hams is having problems mating his Orion 564 to
> his ACOM 2000A (automatic linear).
> The problem is only when trying to run full QSK at speeds above
> 40 wpm.
> In SSB or when running slower speeds, everything works just fine.
>
> First he tried to use the QSK keying loop, but found at high
> speeds, the characters were being shortened to the extent that
> the code was not readable.
>
> The next step was to key the amp in the normal fashion, as if it
> were not a QSK amp.
> He adjusted the keying delay to give the amp time to switch its
> TR relay.
>
> The problem when running this way is, the 2000A gives an error
> message: "ARC Fault", which I believe indicates a bad SWR between
> the TX and the AMP.  Sounds to me like the amp's relay isn't
> switching fast enough.
>
> This problem only occurs when a dit is keyed.
> If he keys a dah, there is not problem.
>
> Has anyone used the ACOM 2000A with the Orion successfully under
> these conditions, or, does anyone have any suggestions of how he
> might successfully use the two together for high-speed CW?
>
> Tnx es 73
> Rick
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