[TenTec] Orion power cord

[Grant Youngman]

> The supplied power cord for the Orion seems kinda wimpy to 
> me.  Has anyone changed to a larger wire and noticed any difference?

If your power lead is SHORT and/or you see no contrast change on the screen
when you key down at full power it's probably ok.  If you have a longer run
to the power supply use the spare connector and make up a new cable.  I
managed to squeeze a #10 cable into the connector pins.

I actually go a step further, and transition a short #10 tail out of the
radio to a #6 run to my power source.  The reason is that I have a longer
cable run (8') and it goes to a DC battery backup system.   A few tenths of
a volt saved in cable losses adds up to more operating time out of the
backup system when the lights are out.  The difference is significant.  The
drop through an 8' piece of #14 wire at 25 amps is about 1.2 volt.  Through
the same run sized at #6 it's only about .2 volts.

Grant/NQ5T