[TenTec] New Orion

[skip]

I have contacted Ten Tec sales department and e-mailed them about the
problems when I opened the box.  I have not received any reply from them.
The sales department was sort of indifferent or maybe this is par for Ten
Tec.

Many years ago I used the 509 Argonaut and loved it.

Yes, I have found the front key input where I put my bug  the question of
mic's well I have as many as I use.  As for the Orion I use a Heil boom
setup.

The display problem still bothers me.  If you set the contrast and leave the
radio on for a few hours it's fine.  The next day when you turn it back on
it needs to be adjusted agn.
Is this normal.
Oh, as for color, B/W is fine if it's stable.

The Orion is a very simple radio to use with a well laid out panel.  Once
you have set all the controls you don't need to go back and reset them
unless conditions change drastically.
I guess I have a newer manual, it tells me enough, however it's very poor
for a newer ham or older ones with very little DSP experience.  I don't
remember if you get a schematic ?????

I use Carl's software, it's very helpful because you can set multi controls
using the slide pots on screen.

I'm amazed at the antenna tuner.  The noise, sounds like relays clicking in
and out rather then an inductor tuning. It works very well over a wide range
of impedances. Although slow.

Roofing filters:  I'm going with the Inrad filters.  I did get a 500hz Ten
Tec filter installed from the factory to start with.

The receive performance has been excellent in cw use.  I have not heard any
AGC pumping as with the Icom 756 ProII among strong stations.  Weak stations
pop out of the noise with the Noise reduction with no distortion or pinging
caused by the DSP.
My only issue was with higher speed CW and the agc set to fast.  I have to
practice to get it the way I like it.  That's the beauty of the rig with
it's many states of tuning.

SSB has been fun.  I have a very low voice and I had to adjust the controls
for my voice.  It sounds very natural and looks nice on my scope, an old
Yaesu YO 100.

Another question, the mode doesn't change all the time when I switch bands.
If I'm working CW on 80 and change to the 20 mtr cw band the mode goes to
SSB.  Is this normal ?????  Has anyone noticed this ????  Also, if I tune
from the SSB portion to the CW portion pf the same band it stays in the SSB
mode.

Well, that's my 2 weeks worth.

de Skip    K3CC