[TenTec] Some Anecdotal NR observations -- Orion II

[Grant Youngman]

Been playing with it all day, on SSB, not CW.  So if CW is your only
interest, YMMV.

1.  40 Meters today is reasonably quiet, at least for this location -- band
noise about s-3/4 with peaks to s-5/6.

Signals in the s-9/+ range sound very good at all NR settings.  It does
sound like increasing NR value is increasing the degree of NR applied,
rather than changing adaption rates.  That's the way it sounds, not
necessarily what's happening.  The notion that once adapted nothing changes,
doesn't seem to hold up in the current implementation.  NR is very effective
with a decent signal to work with -- a nice, clear, mostly noise free
channel.  On the 7290 traffic net today, for example, with mostly s-8/9
signals, it would be hard to ask for better NR.  The background noise wasn't
9+20, either, and it's a good bet the results might have been different if
it had been.

Around the noise level peaks, meaning signals around s-6/7 and below the
signals begin to distort, but not enough to reduce intelligibility markedly
unless they were very weak, although they got scratchier sounding the close
they were to the noise level.  

2.  20 Meters is really quiet for a change, with band noise hardly moving
the meter.

Any signal over S-2/3 or so sounded very good with NR applied.  Weaker
signals that didn't wiggle the meter at all would distort significantly when
NR was turned on. A/B comparisons with a very good external NR box let me to
believe that the II was every bit as good (or bad, depending on how you look
at it) as the external contraption.  With the external box you put up with
the "underwater" distortion, and the II gave you "scratchy" distortion close
to the band noise limit.  I was never able to find any circumstance where
the external processor actually made the signal any more intelligible than
the II.

None of this proves anything of course, and I no longer have a 1.371 Orion
to compare it with.  I do think I recall plenty of circumstances where 1.371
was unable to make miracles happen, either.  And before you jump on me, I'm
not claiming "Mission Accomplished" :-)  Just "yes, it does work", and if it
can be even better down the road, then that's terrific.

Grant/NQ5T