[TenTec] Orion - satisfied user

[Zivney, Terry L.]

99.9% of my operation is in HF contests - 50/50 CW & SSB.  I was very happy with my pair
of OMNI VI+s, and believe my scores were pretty competitive in my categories.  Certainly
the rigs didn't keep me from winning.  Well, to be truthful, my SSB scores did improve when
I bought an old TenTec RF speech processor.  

So, why did I buy an Orion?  The main reasons were 1) to get a second receiver to listen
on the same band.  I couldn't do this with the pair of OMNI VIs.  2) to get great speech
processing.  This required the outboard processor on the ONNI VI.  3) to get the 
sweep display. 4) to provide tranverter capability.  How did I fare?  Well, the first
two points are perfect.  The difference between the $2585 I paid for my OMNI VI+
and the $3300 for the Orion more than is covered by the second receiver, speech
processing, and several IF filters @ $109 each.  The third and fourth points were
mostly blue-sky dreaming of some future day.  I figure they were free.  The sweep
worked ok for me in the ARRL DX SSB contest for looking for 10m openings which
were few and far between here in W9 land.  

Why did I wait so long?  I did not buy in the initial days because I was waiting for my
logging program, TRLog, to provide an interface.  My station is 100% integrated to the
logging program with antenna switching, etc.  I could not afford to buy a radio that I couldn't
use.  So, I gave myself a Christmas present with a new Orion.  I was heartbroken when
I sent it back within the 30 day trial period because of the digital step tuning present in
earlier versions of the firmware.  But, Scott was very good about it and I got my credit
right away.  My finances were such that I could not afford to keep a rig I couldn't use
while waiting for things to improve.  About 2 weeks later, Scott called and asked if I
wanted to try the radio again with the new firmware.  I said, sure; it arrived the afternoon 
of the ARRL DX CW contest.  I pulled the OMNI VI+ out of the slot and rammed the ORION
in.  As many of you have noted, there is a bit of a learning curve involved with the ORION.
Probably my score would have been better with some practice time, but since I only
operate during contests, which contest should I blow off?  The tuning problem was totally
fixed.  Was everyting perfect?  Nope - I didn't win the contest, not even close.  I reported
some of the problems and received suggestions on the reflectors which were "spot on."
I can't even remember what those problems were without referring back to earlier posts!
I had the rig lock up a bunch of times; needed to reset things; receiver went dead; etc.
But, the next time I used it, two weeks later, with NO firmware updates, and NO hardware
fixes, I had NO problems.  And, I operated two competitive CQ WPX contests after
that with NO problems, either.  Therefore, I believe the "random" problems I had
in February were "cockpit errors" [operator errors].  There are a lot of buttons that
can be pushed and it is pretty easy to push the wrong one if you aren't looking at things.
Furthermore, any software you have interfaced to the radio can cause problems which
you never noticed with your old radio, but are indeed logging software problems, not
Orion problems.  A case in point here is that the default for TRLog seems to be for
for the shift key to incrementally tune the VFO for Kenwood rigs (only Kenwood according
to the manual and definitely not for OMNI VI).  So I experienced a wandering signal
during the first contest because I sometimes hit the shift key by mistake.  After the 
contest I was told how to fix this problem with TRLog.   Just because something is
different doesn't mean it's always wrong (of course, it may be wrong).  

I had no problem interfacing my Orion with my old Titan amp , even though it had been
15 years since I had used the amp!  That's without the PTT update in the latest firmware.

I have noticed the dark screen problem.  My shack is in a "bonus room" that would be
an attic.  So, it is pretty hot there in the end of May.  As describe by others, the darkness
starts in the lower lefthand corner, and spreads from there.  In late May, it was pretty
noticable, somewhat like the old thermal copy paper after a few years.  When I turned
it off to take a couple of off hours (you can only operate 36 hours in WPX), it was back
to normal when I started again, but after a while turned dark.  Not pretty, but still
functional.  No cooling of any sort except for a window fan blowing on me.  Someday,
I plan on buying a miniature fan to put under the panel.

On the manual.  I found the on-line manual, which is the one shipped with my radio,
to be very good.  Much better than the brand new manual for the brand new Yaesu
radio my club bought and used on Field Day.  It took several Icom and Kenwood
users quite a while to figure out how to get the menus to work at all.  So, it wasn't
just the TenTec guy who had a problem!

Why are so many negative posts made here but so few on the other brands' reflectors?
I expect that many people are reluctant to admit they made a mistake with a $1,000 or
$10,000 radio that they are stuck with (the dealer won't give them back their money) and
the only way they can eventually unload their turkey is to find some sucker who is
unaware of the key clicks or phase noise or bad AGC, etc.  It's a lot easier to speak
up when you are sure you will get your money back no matter what!

Terry Zivney, N4TZ/9