[TenTec] Orion & SDR1000 thoughts

[Neal Campbell K3NC]

I have owned an Orion for a year now and got my SDR1K in January. Both rigs
are a lot of fun.

The SDR1K is an open source project so there are a core of people coding it
and are active in their discussion of how things should work. Seem to
publish a new beta version of the software every 10 days or so which adds
some new features, fixes some bugs and occasionally creates problems.
Anything that it breaks which is used by many is almost immediately fixed.
There are people who are using a fork of the source code to implement a
linux gui (which I have not tried). The source code for the
software/firmware is published and downloadable. It is obvious that many
people compile new releases instead of just download it (again, I do not).

The SDR1K requires some alignment steps by the user, as opposed to the
Orion's plug and play approach. Simple things like working split mode is not
really implemented (although something is in the pipeline.) Dual receive
isn't either but again something is in the pipeline. Its not a radio for
people who do not enjoy playing with their rig as much as using it.

I really love operating both radios but the Orion has the feel of a
commercial radio while the SDR1K has the feel of a whole new experience,
maybe like a super DSP version of the elecraft K2, more of a grass-roots
experience. The user community seems inspired by the rig and to make it
better than it currently is. This is evident in their implementation of a
weekly VOIP voice bridge where users and developers get together and discuss
the radio (which is available so you can listen even if not there in
person). Flex publishes their 6 month plan for the software, outlining
priorities and asking the community for their opinion.

The Orion is a polished performer that is built to run many hours in one
sitting with the best set of compromises between performance, polish and
price.

If I didn't own either of the rigs, knowing what I know now I would buy both
again (as well as the K2 that I also own). If I am going to run in a
contest, it's the Orion I will power up. Otherwise, I am as likely to play
with one as the other.