[TenTec] ORION II CW pile up readability

[Doug]

I have been playing with the max af, ride the rf, pre-map on idea all 
evening. My "ears" tell me that there is an improvement. The NR actually 
works better than it ever has.

The problem I have with this is that I am not sure the ergonomics's of 
the radio were designed with this setup in mind. So perhaps it is just a 
work around until TenTec blesses us with another release of SW.

Merle Bone wrote:
> Jerry Volpe (KG6TT) said:
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "We discussed the A-D converters in the Orion and that it was their practical 
> sampling limit.... or max range of ability.... that made it important to keep 
> the Preamp IN. The object there is to make sure that there is sufficient signal 
> available to the A-D converters so that the conversion produced a better 
> sampling overall (think of early audio CDs). If the RF energy applied to the 
> A-D converters is too weak then the conversion process generates too few 
> samplings... resulting in continual sampling errors which many of us experience 
> as 'distorted' weak signal audio (I certainly had)."
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I continue to return to the V1 firmware for my Orion for a number of causes - always
> hoping that a new release of V2 will be as good as the V1 firmware. And, I certainly have no
> reason to doubt what Jerry heard from one of the Ten-Tec engineers about the 
> A/D converter issue with the V2 code for the Orion and the Orion II. To look for that issue
> in the V1 code, I ran some basic "minimum discernable signal" tests tonight - similar
> to those run by the ARRL for their test reports. I started with a calibrated signal generator,
> on 20 meters, and use a calibrated attenuator pad to further reduce the signal. I used 
> Spectrum Lab software, and most importantly my ear, to find the "minimum discernable 
> signal" and listened carefully to thee beat note from the signal generator through the Orion.
> With the preamp off I got to a -121dbm signal that I judged to be the "minimum discernable signal"
> from the ARRL procedures - that is about .224 microvolts for those that think better in those 
> terms. The RF gain of the Orion was set to 86.  The note from the generator was 
> clear and undistorted. 
>
> I then turned on the Orion preamp and inserted additional attenuation looking for the 
> minimum discernable signal. With the preamp on I got to a signal of -133dbm - or
> about .047 microvolts. The Orion RF gain was set to 80. The note from the generator
> was clear and undistorted. 
>
> So I think it is safe to say that  the V1 code doesn't appear to have any issues with A/D
> errors at the level of signals that we use in communications through the Orion. Of course
> the noise level on all but the highest HF bands is much above the levels of these - and the
> ARRL's - tests. So, the signal levels passing through the Orion are significantly above the
> test levels. 
>
> -----I stopped writing for a couple of minutes to work EL2DX on 160M - My QTH, the radio
> black hole of urban St. Louis Missouri ----- :-)
>
> As I just worked the EL2 on 160M, my preamp was off, my RF gain was on 78, my AGC
> threshold was on .37 microvolts, AGC Decay was at 45dB/S and my hang was set to
> .04. You could not ask for a cleaner signal to work - all be it close to the noise here in
> Missouri!
>
> Maybe we will hear more from Ten-Tec about this A/D converter error with the V2
> code and the "AGC overshoot." And maybe even get a new V2 code release for the 
> Orion and Orion II with some more of the issues resolved!
> 73, Merle - W0EWM
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