[TenTec] the orion

[CATFISHTWO at aol.com]

I agree with Jerry, ( KG6TT) on the  so called audio problems.  I checked my 
studio one mic and Heil   cable, and the grounds were crossed and not intact.
 
this was causing the BAD audio distortion I was blaming on the  radio.  
Apparently this is a known problem at Heil. I am not sure. 
 
any how I too had a blinking screen on my Orion on key down  and the cure was 
to put a proper ground cable from the radio to the power supply  ( 50 amp 
astron)  and the scree has not blinked once since.
 
I did up grade from the beta version ( 1.37b5??) to the latest  version last 
go around and the radio is working beautifully.
 
 I did 20 something hours in a phone contest last weekend  and not a hiccup. 
I have not done a reset or power cycle since loading 2.59. and  the NR works 
well, especially on those "esp" signals buried in the noise it  does add some 
tiny bit of distortion, but over all it is much easier to hear  those weak ones 
with the NR on . 
 
In fact my biggest problem is they need to put on a big  flashing red 
rotating light on the top of the radio when you are split, so you  remember to "push 
the button" to unsplit when changing bands  (ooooops) 
 
The correction of the grounds on the microphone has solved all  the 
"problems" I was associating with bad software. Its amazing how well the  soft ware 
works when the wires are correct.. go figure..
 
Any how the main setup here is the original Orion into the  Alpha 87 A, into 
either the 3 ele steppir, or the gap voyager, most of the time  and it is a 
breeze with the computer logging on packet spots.  I click on  the spot, the log 
pre-fills, the radio goes there, the amp goes there, the  antenna goes there, 
and its tab, tab, enter,  next contact.  It sure  makes my  modest contesting 
efforts easier.
 
Of all my current 11 hf rigs, my favorite and most used is the  Orion.
 
here is a link to some shack Pics if you are  interested.
 
_http://hometown.aol.com/catfishtwo/N6AJR.html_ 
(http://hometown.aol.com/catfishtwo/N6AJR.html) 
 
 
 
Just my opinion, YMMV
 
tom N6AJR