[TenTec] AM Receiver distortion in Orion II

[Rich McCabe]

Hi Larry,

I wish I knew. I know the Orion is hard to figure out but I keep working at
this thing trying to get it better. It seems like it just needs constant
tweaking to just get it to the point of my other rigs. As a matter of fact I
ordered roofing filters from Stan today trying to get myself to like this it
more. 

My Rx is normally set flat "0" but tonight I am running it extreme at -14db
comparing it to the Jupiter. Dropping the threshold down livens things up a
bit but the AGC is a little faster than I like.

I am close to giving up on it. If the performance was as good as I was
hoping it would be easy to overlook the shortcomings in the interface, but
right now it seems substandard to everything in the shack except maybe the
Jupiter. 

I am running a SP-23 and Sounds Sweet speaker. I have a NCS radio multi
switcher/audio system so I am using the same speakers on both. I usually set
the balance at about 1/3 sounds sweet and 2/3 Sp-23.

I did record the audio tonight. This link is a zipped file of a MP3 sound
file. The first signal is the Orion and then the Jupiter. Both with filters
set at 2250 and no PBT. www.ctiowa.com/orion-vs-jupiter.zip

Gonna give it another week and if it does not come around I am saving all my
money for a new 7800. My Pro III was great, so hoping the 7800 is that much
better. 

73,

Rich




-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Larry Menzel
Sent: Tuesday, January 23 9:49 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] AM Receiver distortion in Orion II

Man, Rich, with all due respect, I can't understand what you're hearing.

My Orion II has clear, clean audio, on all bands.  It's crisp and easy to 
listen to.

I'm wondering how you have the AGC set, and more to the point, where your RX

EQ is set.  I find the high plus numbers do tend to muddy the audio, but at 
zero things sound pretty crisp.

My second question is what speaker(s) are you employing.  I have both the 
Icom SP-20 and my computer speakers available to switch back and forth and 
the audio is very good on either. I've heard reports that the matching TT 
speaker is a poor performer without significant modification.

I'm no technician, and perhaps one of those guys will weigh in, but it's 
really curious to me that you'd find the OII generally muddy in character.

I'm not doubting your assessment, but I respectfully submit that maybe it's 
an individual radio issue, and not characteristic of the radio in general.

Others may disagree, but YMMV.

Larry, N0XB


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich McCabe" <r.mccabe at ctiowa.com>
To: "'Ron Castro'" <ronc at sonic.net>; "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" 
<tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] AM Receiver distortion in Orion II


>I find the Orion II audio muddy in general. Funny you would post this
> because I am in the process of making an audio file to send service 
> myself.
> Compared to the Pro III and Jupiter II, the Orion seems to have very 
> little
> audio response.
>
> 73,
>
> Rich
> Kd0zv
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Ron Castro
> Sent: Tuesday, January 23 4:55 PM
> To: Ten Tec List
> Subject: [TenTec] AM Receiver distortion in Orion II
>
> One of the items on my "wish list" for the Orion II is to fix the AM 
> receive
> audio, which sounds to me like a problem in the DSP code that causes
> distortion and 'muddy' sound.  It's most noticeable during selective fades
> that cause a serious clipping effect.  Last night, I made an MP3 of a 
> local
> AM radio station comparing the O2 to a TS-870, and sent it to TT service.
> This morning, TT said they couldn't hear any difference between the two
> receivers.  Is it my ears or what?  The link to the clip is below.  The O2
> is the first 60 seconds and the 870 is the second 60 seconds.  Bandwidth 
> on
> the O2 is 6 kHz, while the 870 is 3 kHz, although as you'll hear, it 
> sounds
> just the opposite!
>
> http://n6ie.com/OrionII_vs_870.mp3
>
> Can anyone besides me hear the difference?
>
>      Ron N6IE
> www.N6IE.com
> (Formerly N6AHA)
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