[TenTec] A New Orion II owner

[Jeff Sumner]

"So You've Done & Bought Yourself a New Orion," eh?

I have a document that I used as a crib sheet until I got used to the  
radio and could figure out how to make it most useful to me.

I decided that the best way to learn the radio was to learn one  
control at a time. I configured the radio as simply as I could, then  
started playing with the various modes, then the various filter  
settings, then added in the second receiver, the the audio settings,  
then the DSP settings (which, like the AGC settings below are very  
"other variable dependent," which make them more subtle and powerful  
than a first impression might show).

The last thing I tangled was the AGC system. It's both far more and  
far <i>less</i> useful than I had originally thought. Lots of words  
have been spent explaining how to "best" use it, and really, it's  
sometimes set up best as the most unobtrusive as possible.

Basically, the radio for me is all about bandwidth. The AGC is pretty  
good up front and the factory settings, though derided in their own  
literature, work well enough to get me going. Now, of course, I've  
programmed the thing to within an inch of its life, and I do so as I  
skip band to band, adjusting for the minimum noise threshold, then  
receiver decay values, then a touch of hang, depending on the mode...



Play. Lots of play.

The final thing I've discovered about the radio is what it does so  
well must SUCK to sell to people. The radio's receiver is excellent.  
How excellent is a matter of difficulty trying to put into words  
without using engineering terms. It's far better than anything else  
I've ever used, but because of the nature of a great receiver, it's  
nearly impossible to demonstrate how good it is because by the very  
nature of good filtering, it can be some Real Work to show off.  I  
liken it to photography lenses. Leica glass is among the best ever  
made for any camera (and the price tag shows it!). Lenses are signal  
processors and amplifiers on their own, and some of the discussion  
about RF amplifiers can cross over well to the study of photographic  
lenses. Leica lenses (modern ones, please!) are known to be accurate,  
sharp and quite resistant to flare. The receiver in the Orion is like  
that: "lens flare" being the analogue to adjacent channel  
interference (think: IMD). Lens flare is subtle in normal scene  
photography, it's subtle under normal circumstances on the bands,  
too. It's only when the light ratio gets severe, when daylight and  
shadow detail are expected to record on film, when 20 meters is open  
and there's tons of signals, from those down the street to those  
6,000 miles away (LONGPATH)... That's when the receiver shows itself.  
Yes, it's the tightest sounding receiver when things aren't so  
demanding, the same way smaller pictures taken with excellent show a  
clarity and brilliance of color, but it's subtle.


Have fun with your radio. I am with mine.



JD
KC4FOX


On Nov 4, 2006, at 12:23 PM, Kim Elmore wrote:

> OK, not exactly new: it's the Orion II (the very one evaluated in
> QST) that was sold on the new ARRL Auction site. I'm told that it
> will be shipped in the next week or so, via FedEx ground. If I
> recall, this one is pretty much fully loaded. I have, however, a new
> LDG tuner to put in it, so if anyone wants to male an offer on the
> original internal TenTec tuner, drop me a line.
>
> My current rig is a TS-930S (that I've had since new in about 1984)
> with a PIEXX board. I've just moved and, after a few months of simply
> sitting, it shows low drive so it needs a bit of tinkering with the
> drive circuit (this happened once before about 10 years ago and I
> remember it was an easy fix, but not the fix itself), but it's
> otherwise a fine rig that's always been a pleasure.
>
> As a new Orion II owner, I'll happily accept any suggestions from
> others among you as to how best to handle my initial orientation to
> this beastie. I use DxBase for logging and rig control, so if anyone
> has experience and tips in that regard, I'm all ears.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kim Elmore, N5OP
>
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