[TenTec] Original Orion Firmware

[Merle Bone]

John Henry,
Thanks for your note.  I am very happy to see your solicitation of input for the next Orion V2 release.  I am very happy to see Ten-Tec making an investment in the Orion/Orion II firmware. I currently run V2.063Xg.
My request list has three items on it:
1. Reduce the subreceiver "blow-by"  described by Barry (N1EU) earlier.
2. Clean up the "inter-function" gain distribution to eliminate distortion in the audio output of the next release. This issue first developed when the AGC loop take-off point was moved up in the DSP IF chain. The "Audio AGC" in the last release was an attempt to eliminate the audio distortion and to eliminate the AGC from being pumped by a strong CW signal (audio sound eliminated but AGC still pumped). Unfortunately, the new "Audio AGC" took a lot of system gain out without going back and resetting the individual function gains. Whatever you come out with - wherever the AGC take-off point is, please clean up the distributed gain. People were told to increase the AGC hang time - and other strange things - to clean up the audio distortion. Not a good thing if you are trying to work weak CW signals. We just need the time taken to make sure that the gain at each function point is appropriate (Whether you have auxiliary functions like NB in operation or not).
3. The software noise blanker function is weak in V2, compared to V1. It is also very weak compared to other current DSP algorithms. Strengthening that system would be good for everyone. Many people fight local noise issues - from time to time - and a strong noise blanker is one of the most important tools in the tool kit.

Additional comments:
1. The speech processing is excellent. I have bench marked it against the V1 code at they are very nearly identical in function/performance. Please don't negatively impact their performance.
2. I actually think the new band display function is helpful. I use it a lot during the E-Skip season on 6M with a 6M transverter and amplifier. With the current band-display you can spot a signal and move the VFO, and cursor, to the new signal position before the display changes the position of the desired signal. I like "purpose driven tools" and I think the new display is very useful as a tuning tool. 

Thanks again for your effots.
Merle - W0EWM


Hi,

As many of you know, and we have already announced, we are in the
process of improving the Original Orion firmware.
In that regard, I would like to get some more inputs and information.