[TenTec] back from the future - Orion I

[bob finger]

I spent this morning  testing and reconfiguring my ssb settings on my 
Orion with Ver 2.x firmware.  I was uncomfortable on 160 ssb last night, 
I sounded distorted when listening to myself, and I had one guy tell me 
I sounded raspy. Cut my operation short and went to the house rather 
than continue. 

End result; I had to change my ssb settings considerably from that which 
worked on Ver 1.372.  Specifically:

1.  I reduced mic gain from "60" to "30" using a Heil HC4 element.  
Setting is much more critcal than with 1.372
2.  I kept the SP at 4, but it does take off during non voice 
periods...Contest q's are short enough I am not going to worry about 
it.  The longer you don't talk the worse it gets.  I see zero watts out 
initially and after about five seconds of silence the rf out equals the 
power out setting.  With SP off this does not happen.
3.  Noticed that there is interaction between RF gain, audio gain and 
the monitor function.  With my RF gain setting of about 50 last night, 
monitor will sound distorted at any point above about 20.  Listening on 
a separate receiver verified that this distortion is NOT on the transmit 
audio.
4.  Using the voice recorder, send 1, really hits the monitor hard.  
Much more gain than when speaking into the mic.  Again, listening to a 
separate receiver the transmit audio is fine.

I have zero complaints with Ver 2.x on cw.  It is a terrific improvement 
over 1.372. With the above changes I think all will be well on ssb as 
well.  I will battle test it tonight to see if my assumption holds up.  
73 bob de w9ge