[TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!

[John Simon]

Now there's a thought!  Imagine being the pilot of one of those ugly F117's 
and the computers lock up.  Answer from the Help Desk, "Oh just reboot!"
Those things are so dumb without the computers, they don't know how to keep 
the pointy end into the wind.  B-)

          John de VK2XGJ
Money talks,  Chocolate sings!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Castro" <ronc at sonic.net>
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 1:49 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!


> I'm glad we're only test piloting software and not airplanes, or I'd be a
> goner for sure!
>
>            Ron Castro
>  Chief Technical Officer
>     Results Radio, LLC
>                N6IE
>       www.N6IE.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <Rsoifer at aol.com>
> To: <ronc at sonic.net>; <tentec at contesting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7:34 AM
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime Time!
>
>
>> Ron and others,
>>
>> Many thanks for your fine work.  After playing with 2.042A overnight,
>> I've
>> re-installed 2.041XT and will await T-T's next try.
>>
>> 73 Ray W2RS
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 4/14/2010 2:45:00 A.M. GMT Standard Time,
>> ronc at sonic.net
>> writes:
>>
>> I keep  hoping that it's something simple like a hiccup while I was
>> flashing
>> the  new firmware, so I'm interested if anyone else finds the same things
>> I'm
>> finding in the behavior.
>>
>> Ron  N6IE
>> www.N6IE.com
>>
>> -----  Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Gene Henderson"  <wb9hla at comcast.net>
>> To: "Ron Castro" <ronc at sonic.net>;  "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
>> <tentec at contesting.com>
>> Sent:  Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:26 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A:  Not Ready for Prime Time!
>>
>>
>>> Ron,
>>> Looks like someone  forgot to install this on a radio and see if it
>> worked.
>>> I agree with  you
>>> not even close to Prime Time
>>> Gene WB9HLA
>>>
>>>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Ron Castro"  <ronc at sonic.net>
>>> To: "Ron Castro" <ronc at sonic.net>;  "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
>>>  <tentec at contesting.com>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010  21:50
>>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime  Time!
>>>
>>>
>>>> Addendum to my post:  on problem #1,  I'm referring to the RX audio. 
>>>> TX
>>>> audio (other than more  drive needed and processor problem) still 
>>>> sounds
>>>> broadcast  quality.
>>>>
>>>>             Ron   N6IE
>>>>        www.N6IE.com
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>>  From: "Ron Castro" <ronc at sonic.net>
>>>> To:  <tentec at contesting.com>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 6:41  PM
>>>> Subject: [TenTec] Orion II v 2.042A: Not Ready for Prime  Time!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Here are a list of problems I  found right off with the v. 2.042A, 
>>>>> even
>>>>> after doing a battery  reset and two master resets and memory clear:
>>>>>  1.. Very  noticeable distortion on all audio.  Sounds like overdrive
>> in
>>>>> IF
>>>>> or DSP section.
>>>>>   2.. AGC hang in AF AGC.  S-meter goes up and never comes down!  At
>> same
>>>>> time, RF gain goes down and does not come back up.   If you manually
>> turn
>>>>> the RF Gain all the way to 0, then back  up to 100, the radio is
>>>>> essentially muted.  This will not  happen if the "AGC Hang" setting is
>> 0,
>>>>> but then distortion is  really bad.
>>>>>  3.. NR does not work in AF AGC mode.   Does seem to work well in RF
>>>>> AGC
>>>>> mode.
>>>>>   4.. Much more audio drive needed on AUX input for SSB.  It looks
>>>>> like
>>>>> about 10 dB more.
>>>>>  5.. AM carrier=  1.25 Watts max!  That's at 100% PWR setting.
>>>>>  6.. FM  carrier= 6.4 Watts max.
>>>>>  7.. SSB Speech Processor gives  only around 50 Watts max peak output.
>>>>> You
>>>>> can  get it up to 100 Watts when you crank it to "way beyond
>>>>> reasonable
>>>>> distortion".
>>>>>  8.. Could not  find any sort of S-Meter calibration
>>>>> Here are the good points  so far:
>>>>>  1.. Side tone is louder and spot level is  too.
>>>>>  2.. Waterfall display is much  improved.
>>>>>  3.. Difference in frequency between Main and  Sub improved, but still
>>>>> not
>>>>> "phase  locked".  I detect about 0.1 Hz differential which should make
>> it
>>>>> fine for true diversity antenna work.
>>>>>   4.. In RF AGC mode, the NR really does seem improved, although it's
>>>>> hard
>>>>> to tell with the audio distortion  mentioned above.
>>>>> So that's the good, the bad and the ugly of  it!  I'm QSYing back to 
>>>>> v.
>>>>> 2.039d, the last one that  worked right...
>>>>>
>>>>>         Ron  N6IE
>>>>>        www.N6IE.com
>>>>>  _______________________________________________
>>>>> TenTec mailing  list
>>>>> TenTec at contesting.com
>>>>>  http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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