[TenTec] Orion evaluation: why wait?

[Ken Brown]

Hi,

>>What exactly is "cw signal  timebase jitter"?   Any relation to dead spots
>>or noise bursts?
>>
I think this is a question that this reflector ought to be a good place 
to look for an answer. Even if it is a figment of someone's imagination, 
I would want to find out before buying one.

>Sometimes I think the first thing someone should do when they have that 
>initial 'glimmer' of "maybe I should buy an Orion...." is to distance 
>themselves as far as possible from this reflector until after they buy 
>it and try it for the 30 day guarantee trial/return....
>
I would think that if someone has a new Onion, and has any difficulty or 
question about how to get the best performance from it, they really 
should ask Ten-Tec AND this reflector for operating hints well BEFORE 
the 30 trial period is up.

> THEN maybe 
>exchange notes with others on the Reflector but ONLY after reading 
>through the archives..
>
Okay, fine. May as well take advantage of other's experience. That is 
one of the things that this reflector is for. No need to repost the same 
old question that has been gone over before. Still, why wait until after 
the 30 day trial/return period has expired?

> The second thing I think they should do IS NOT 
>TOUCH any of the programmable options for the first SIX months!
>
Why would anyone want to wait until after the first SIX months, when the 
trial/return period is only 30 days?

I think the point you are making is that there is a lot of 
misinformation on this reflector, and that a new owner of an Orion 
should make their (not there or they're) own judments on the Orion based 
on how it really works regardess of complaints from others on the 
reflector who may have changed settings in a way that cause weird 
problems, and they should consider that changes that they make 
themselves could potentially cause the radio to do funny things. I agree 
with this. I do not agree with waiting until the 30 day trial/return 
period has expired to explore the full capability of the rig.

Since the Orion is being marketed as a radio which allows the user to 
make changes to parameters which can optimize the performance for that 
users particular operating style and (noise) environment (and also have 
the potential to make it do funny and undesireable things), the user 
really owes it to him or herself to try this stuff out before the 30 day 
trial/return period has expired. If these things shouldn't be fiddled 
with, maybe Ten-Tec should market an "idiot proof" version that does not 
allow changes to these parameters.

I do not own an Orion. I have an Omni VI and a Paragon. I think they are 
the best rigs I have ever owned. And I may want to try an Orion someday. 
I take all the reports on this reflector with a grain (or perhaps a 
pound) of salt. I'd like to try one before I buy. Unfortunately the only 
one I have ever touched (at Dayton) had no antenna connected, not a very 
good way to try a radio. If I resorted to buying one without ever trying 
one, I would definitely want to try as many of the parameter variations 
as practical before the 30 day trial/return period expired.

DE N6KB