[TenTec] Orion vs SDR-1000

[Charles Greene]

Bill and All,

You are misinformed on a bunch of stuff concerning the SDR-1K.  On 
CW, if you use an external keyer, so what if the code stream lags the 
key?  It's all there and you are not listening to it but to the 
external keyer.  It's not QSK I agree, but so not are a bunch of 
Japanese rigs in the same price range.  I can operate QSK with my 
Omni -VI, Jupiter, K2/100, or even my Triton IV, 540, but I am 
missing a lot of good transceiver operation vs the SDR-1K.  I 
currently am using a 4 year old HP with a 2.1 Ghz AMD with no 
compromises in performance at all.  Costs me $500.  That plus SDR-1k 
,100 watt amp with antenna tuner, a high end sound card and high end 
mike still came in at under $2.5k.

I admit from what I hear (do not own one) there are many things that 
the Orion II will do that my SDR-1K setup will not, and vice versa 
mainly in the areas of enhanced received and transmitted signal 
performance, not to mention the other things a computer can do if you 
are counting the total cost.  I'll be glad to run transmit signal 
quality comparison tests any time, and the Panadapter on receive 
really has to be seen to be appreciated just to mention two.   I'm 
not trying to convince you, but just to set the record straight.

The SDR-1K is the first of it's breed, and subsequent hardware will 
easily surpass any stand alone rig.  If I were Ten Tec and the other 
manufacturers, I would be looking at similar radio, and the Pegasus 
is not a similar radio.  Maybe a step along the way.

73,  Chas, W1CG

At 08:26 AM 4/30/2006, Bill Tippett wrote:
>On 30 August W9OY wrote:
>
>****************************************************
>When I look at the keying waveform in the review
>article the first dit shows up on the antenna AFTER
>the second dit is produced at the key.  No VOX, No
>QSK, gonna be fixed real soon tho, yep real soon.
>Lemme see the article says you need a souped up 3.2ghz
>P4 with a high buck sound card and gigs of memory just
>to get the dits to be 2 elements out of sequence, and
>then you have to re-arrange your brain to be able to
>copy.  But it isn't too bad, nope not too bad...you
>get used to it... and its gonna be fixed any day
>now... why with a little practice you can get up to
>maybe 30wpm.
>
>I would not call this just as good, and given the
>amount of computer needed I don't see it as half the
>price.  1325 bux of radio and 1500 bux of computer/
>sound card/monitor/shuttle knob etc does not equal
>half the cost.
>
>The radio is interesting for sure.  I think it will be
>interesting to see how the design flaws get worked
>out, and whether or not the flaws turn out to be
>lethal or not.  I also find it interesting that the
>highest end P4 multi gig memory radio can't do what
>the century 21 (another direct conversion radio) did
>with ease, send good code.  I have been seriously
>considering getting one of these because I find the
>whole concept interesting, but I do not see this as
>anything but vaporware in terms of its being a high
>performance radio at this time.  Interesting that my
>Orion uses a processor similar in power to my palm
>pilot and can do more than what the SDR-1K does.
>
>I was on the Elecraft IRC site a couple of months ago,
>and the guy there was telling me how his K2 was better
>than the Orion at "half the cost".  I subsequently
>played with a K2 to see for myself.  It neither
>compares to the Orion.  Its not a bad little radio but
>when the going gets tough as my old buddy from Paducha
>used to say "it ain't got no motor"
>*****************************************************
>          Lee, how about another update on your SDR?
>I'm wondering if the ultimate solution may be
>an SDR receiver but a companion analog TX (N.B.
>Orion does not have an analog transmitter, hence
>its problems with QSK, time jitter, etc).
>
>                                          73,  Bill  W4ZV