[TenTec] Orion ll Audio

[K9MI]

First off, I'm a long time Ten Tec lover, but price range, I had a 
"Field" also until recently. Mine had the Inrad roofing filter and 
another 500hz filter in the main receiver. I have to agree with Barry, 
those changes make a new radio out of the "Field". Economics drive what 
I can do with the hobby (darnit!) or an Orion or Orion II would be 
sitting on the desk. We have a Corsair and 962 PS at our local club. The 
owner wants me to put it on the internet since he is not on, and it is 
next to impossible to sell any hf rig locally. Of course I'll have to 
test it out for a week or so to verify it's condition. I'm not thrilled 
with what I have now, and the Corsair may become my new rig (after 
selling what I have). I could give a list of Ten Tec radios I wish I had 
  kept, but I'd say letting the Omni 6 (opt 3) out the door, was my 
biggest mistake.

73, Mike K9MI


Barry Gross wrote:
> I'd have to agree with Denny.  The MkV Field with Inrad roofing filter
> is probably the next best to an Orion or Omni6/roofing filter
> combination.  Phil, if you're getting "murdered" by overload with MkV
> Field, I'd first check that the receiver is adjusted properly as Denny
> suggested.
> 
> All that being said, there's no question that you'll get less
> "murdered" with the Orion, and suffer less gray matter damage during a
> brutal 48-hour contest.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Barry N1EU
> n1eu.com
> 
> On 12/7/06, Dennis OConnor <ad4hk2004 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Phil, the short answer is -10dB worse to +10dB better...  The long answer is it depends on the details...
>> I have the MK-V with the Inrad roofing filter and a full filter set <I have never used a Field model> and the OII with a full filter set, and a 6+ (564) with the Inrad CW roofing filter and a full filter set...  These are outstanding DX and contest radios...  A $20,000 RACAL cannot do what these radios do in the contesting environment...And, I feel the receiver on the OII is superior to the MK-V and the 6+...
>> Does that mean I can work signals on the OII I can't even hear on the MK-V or the 6+?  The answer is no... But in heavy qrm I can puzzle out the call or the exchange faster on the OII - personal opinion... And 'maybe' I can work a qsb signal that is just at the noise level, with heavy static crashes, on the OII that I could not with the others - maybe not...  The devil here, is in the details...
>> If you just plug in a MK-V or an OII, turn em on and go for it, you are not likely to hear any difference - you will get killed in heavy QRM...  You need to select the best filter / bandwidth for the conditions  <once in a while in really vicious qrm going way wide will allow you to copy what you can't on the narrow filter, always worth a few seconds trial>...  You need to turn off the AGC and the Preamp... You need to use Attenuation and the RF Gain control to avoid overloading the IF stages... You need to set the audio to a comfortable level and the RF Gain becomes your main volume control.... You need to get used to using IF shift - just a little goes a long ways - and on CW, switching sidebands is another tool...  Having a receive-only  antenna is a must at times on the lower bands... And having done all this you need to condition that filter between your ears - ten pushups (contacts) every day to tone the muscle and hit every contest on the weekends even if only for 
an
>>  hour, as a cardio workout...
>> And there are times when the qrm is laid on top that elusive dx signal in layers and there is just nothing you can do about it...  The guys you hear working the DX through the qrm are in a different geographic area, are hearing different levels of qrm than you, and have antennas with different patterns than yours - apples and oranges and nothing you can do will change that....
>> Now, I would love to tell you that buying an OII will solve all your problems, but I can't... I made the decision only after long and careful thought and monitoring the various whine, errrrr, chat groups....   Before you deep six the MK-Vconsider spending the money to outfit it with narrow filters and spend time doing the things i have outlined <if you haven't already - if you have, then just plonk me :>..
>> Bottom line; I am very happy with my OII and glad I bought it... ymmv...
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