[TenTec] New Orion I v2 Firmware version: 2.062a

[Robert Carroll]

My Orion I had been loaded with what I think was 2056.  I was pretty
satisfied with that release and had stayed away from later ones because of
some of the issues reported on this reflector and some private comments
about preamp measurements with the later releases by someone I consider to
be one of the most technically savvy Orion gurus but who at this point
wishes to remain below the noise.  Just before Dayton my Orion I returned to
the factory for some minor issues and came back loaded with 2059.  It seemed
to work well, but I didn't play around with it much before loading the
latest release.  I did  master resets, user memory clears, and RAM clears
during the changeover and subsequently to make sure there were no
"hangovers." 

My experience with the latest release has not been good.  As I reported
yesterday I have a rasp on weak received cw signals which sounds similar to
overload and clipping when the AGC has been left off by accident.  It is not
there on strong signals however.  Fiddling with the AGC parameters improves
things but does not cure them.  The subreceiver is worse than the main
receiver.

The other thing I have run into is the NR.  This has been a controversial
issue since the Orion I was released, and in general in the past I did not
use it often, being able to achieve--or so I thought--the same results with
the RF gain control.  However with 2056 I ran into several near-noise-floor
situations where I was able to copy a station with the NR on which I could
not copy with it off.  From that point on I normally used it.  However with
this version I found the NR to be virtually unusable.  On a weak signal the
background ran from almost total silence when a cw signal was off, through a
very obvious and mushy ramp up to a raspy tone during a letter to a mushy
and raspy retreat to silence between letters.  There was no difference in
performance at any setting of the NR.

As has been the case since after previous releases of Orion I firmware,
there are reports of totally flawless operation to very flawed for this
latest release.  I have no idea if this has to do with the firmware playing
differently on different Orions, something being broken in hardware on some
of the Orions, picky/grouchy old operators, inexperienced new users etc.
What I do know is that the Orion is capable of being a superb cw
transceiver, and I do know what a good cw receiver sounds like.  My Orion is
parked next to a de-clicked FT1000MP.  The MP does not have the blocking or
dynamic range of the Orion, nor does it have the very nice control of AGC
characteristics and bandwidth.  But it does have a very good, clean cw
receiver in it.  With my Orion there is a night and day difference in cw
sound between the MP and the new firmware load.

The guru I mentioned above has for a long time advocated using 565v1373b5.
last night I reluctantly reloaded that version into the Orion and the rasp
and NR problems are gone.  One of the downsides of the V1 releases is that
among other improvements V2 was designed to have better error handling
routines than V1, and I would hate to return to the day of receiver or tx
lockups at inopportune moments.

I'm sure most opinions and experiences will vary, and my intent is not to
fan any flames but to report what I have experienced.
73
Bob W2WG

-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Dave Heil
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 12:07 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] New Orion I v2 Firmware version: 2.062a

Paul W. Gallier wrote:
> To Ten-Tec:

> Thanks for the recent update - 2.062a.  It seems to work okay, although I
> haven't wrung out every little trick.  I like the S meter action, it works
> fine with my MixW, the CW sounds fine and so does SSB.

> So, don't fix it again; it "ain't broke"

Actually, I think it is broken, Paul.  I loaded the latest and the audio 
gain level is way down again.  I reloaded the last version and the gain 
is up.  It seems to me that every time we get a fix, something else ends 
up not being right.

Dave K8MN
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