[TenTec] Orion II Curiosity

[Barry LaZar]

Rick,
     Let me start with I have a MFJ power meter. It measures either peak or average depending on a switch setting.
     What you describe is in line with what I expect. I should be able to see a peak on a steady tone or voice peak to be close to what the transmitter rating is and the average to be 4,5,or 6 db below that, depending on SP setting and voice characteristics. However, that is not what I think I'm seeing. The TS-50 camparison was used more of a check of the power meter, and it checked out close to what I would expect.
     The mic I use is the tentec desk mic, a SP setting of 4, and mic gain at 50. The power setting is set to 100. 
     I was running PSK-31 last night and could only get about 35 watts out. This is a steady tone, albeit phase modulated, that should have allowed me to kick up to full rating. 
     What I sense in the way the transmitter is fuctioning is that ALC is holding down power in the SSB modes for some reason. I went back and reread the manual to see if I had missed something. I couldn't find what I had missed. Like I said in my post, I get 100 watts in CW, no problem. It's just the SSB modes that seem to exhibit this. Is there a ALC adjustment that could be set incorrectly?

73,
Barry
K3NDM


>From: NJ0IP <Rick at DJ0IP.de>
>Date: Mon Jan 09 03:51:14 CST 2006
>To: k3ndm at arrl.net, 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment' <tentec at contesting.com>
>Subject: RE: [TenTec] Orion II Curiosity

>Barry,
>
>The first question here is, what kind of watt meter are you using and does
>it show "average power" or "peak power"?
>
>If you have a meter reading average power, then everything is probably OK as
>is with the Orion.  The interesting thing here is why the TS-50 shows more
>power.
>
>If your meter is reading peak power, then that explains the reading on the
>TS-50 and there is something set wrong or something wrong with your Orion.
>
>With my DAIWA NS-660P watt meter switched to average power, I show about 35w
>on SSB and can whistle it up to about 50w or 60w.  When switched to measure
>peak power, I see about 80w on peak and can whistle it up to just under
>100w.
>
>Can we assume that besides the mic gain and the processor gain, you have
>also checked the PWR setting in SSB mode and ascertained that it is set to
>100?
>
>73
>Rick
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
>On Behalf Of Barry LaZar
>Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 4:29 PM
>To: tentec at contesting.com
>Subject: [TenTec] Orion II Curiosity
>
>	The way I'm lashed up here in the shack has a power meter
>continuously on
>line. I looked up to see how much I was putting out with the Orion II and
>discovered that I was showing about 35-50 watts average on SSB. I changed
>mode to CW and found I was putting out about 105-110 Watts.
>	I changed over to my Kenwood TS-50 which I have used to reach out
>and touch
>people all over the world to see what I would read with it. I discovered
>that the average was about 75 watts.
>	I went back to the Orion II to see if I missed something in my
>setup, mic
>gain or something. Nothing I played with seemed to allow me to kick up more
>power. I played with the speech processor and the mic gain. All I could see
>was that I was affecting the ALC, not much else. OK folks, what am I
>missing?
>
>
>
>73,
>Barry
>K3NDM
>
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