[TenTec] Happy Orion owners (was question about updates)

[Grant Youngman]

> This is quite a list of major faults imo. <snip>

Depends on your point of view.  I would call it "differences" rather than
"faults", in most cases.

> guy can't adjust the power on am? What about trying to drive 
> an amp and be legal with 375 watt carrier?

It was just something broken in the 2.033 release.  It was fine in 2.032.
This is a common problem -- fix one thing, break something else --
temporarily.  It will get fixed in a subsequent release.


>     Monitor works on some modes, audio no where as good as 
> first orion - duh this is just cheesey!

The monitor not working on AM has been an issue from the beginning that
still isn't fixed.  

There is a difference between "measured response", and how the radio sounds
on somebody elses receiver, especially since most receivers are designed
with very restricted IF and AF response.

Ten-Tec really cleaned up the control code firmware stability issues that
existed in the Orion in the Orion II code.  But they changed the DSP code at
the same time -- in part to save memory space and provide enough room to
allow the improvements necessary in the control code.

The Orion II isn't perfect, but it's better than the Orion in terms of
"glitch free" operation.  Many of us who had Orions and upgraded were
surprised that the Doug Smith code wasn't there in some areas, and miss it.
That doesn't make the Orion II a bad radio.  Just a different radio in some
respects.  In fact, there are some issues in the Orion DSP that were broken
and never fixed until the v2 code, a fact many forget when bemoaning the
fact that the "Doug Smith code" (which had its own set of problems) is gone.

Grant/NQ5T