[TenTec] Orion vs K3

[Bill Tippett]

         Just to second what others have said, both the
Orion and K3 are the best there is when it comes to receiver
performance.  Each has features I prefer but the basic RX
performance is very similar.  I also agree that an original
Orion with an Inrad 762 filter is an outstanding value (at ~$2k)
when loaded with v1.373b5 firmware.  As long as you
don't activate Sweep, the firmware is rock-solid stable and
IMHO is better than any of the v2 versions (although I often
wished the v1 display was as crisp as that using v2).

         As a bit of constructive feedback to Ten-Tec,
here are what I see as the major advantages of the K3:

1.  The Sub RX will have equal performance to the Main
RX.  I found Orion's Sub RX was so poor in crowded
contest conditions that I seldom used it.  It worked OK
for split pileups when tuning for strong local signals
but it has very poor performance when tuning for weak
signals in the presence of large ones (e.g. contests).
It would be nice if an Orion III could improve on the
Sub RX front-end performance.

2.  Diversity in Orion is not phase-locked.  In fact the
two VFOs are offset in frequency by a few Hz (mine
was ~2 Hz off and I've heard that others were off by
as much as 6 Hz).  This causes a warble due to VFO
offsets when using diversity.  Early reports from the
K3 indicate that the two VFOs will be exactly on the
same frequency and phase-locked to the same
local oscillator.  I'm uncertain this can be implemented
in an Orion III, but it would worth investigating along
with improved Sub RX performance (#1 above).

3.  Orion does not have a buffered wideband IF
output which precludes the use of SDR software like
PowerSDR, Winrad, CW Skimmer, etc.  The band
scope possibilities using this software are far advanced
over what is possible in Orion (either v2 in Orion or
in Orion II).  The K3 has such an output which can
be fed to a ~$200 LP-PAN and ~$100 sound card to
create a band scope that is far beyond any current
internal band scopes, even in rigs like the IC-7800.

http://www.telepostinc.com/LP-PAN.html

I would think this could be easily done in an Orion III
and possibly even retrofitted to current Orions.

4.  The modularity concept in the K3 is very nice.
I'm not forced to pay for features I seldom use.
In my case that includes general coverage RX,
DVK, AM, FM and an ATU.  Using the assembled
prices, you can configure a K3 with Sub RX, dual
500 Hz filters and KXV3 for <$3k.  Doing self-
assembly, you can save another $270 over the
above.  This makes the K3 a compelling value
compared to Omni 7 or Orion II...*IF* you don't
need all the features mentioned above.

         Others have covered firmware issues in
Orion.  If I felt Ten-Tec were devoting the same
resources to Orion compared to Omni 7, I might
still have my Orion today.  I'll also note that the
K3 is only ~6 months into shipments, which puts
it at about the same maturity Orion was in Fall of
2003.  Compared to my August 2003 Orion, the
K3 today is *far* beyond where Orion was, and it
continues to improve on nearly a daily basis.  I
do hope Ten-Tec will continue to support Orion
(original and II) in the manner they are supporting
the Omni 7 (which is excellent from what I see).

         Ten-Tec's customer responsiveness
and support is among the best, but I feel Elecraft
has set a new standard and some issues need to
be addressed for the overall health of Ten-Tec.
I do think it's great to see 3 American companies
leading the way over the former big 3!

                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV