[TenTec] crystal filter in Orion 565

[Rick Dougherty NQ4I]

Hi all...I mentioned a few months ago that we were proceeding down the
path to incorporate a 20 meter crystal filter that can be switched in
and out during contesting...

W8ZF has completed the first modification on the Orion that is used on
the 20m RUN station at nq4i...the crystal filter is designed and
manufactured by INRAD..it has
a pass freq of 14.010 and is approx 10 khz wide...it is installed
inside the Orion in conjunction with the the sub rx..i.e. he uses the
sub rx switch to switch the filter in and out.....
In M-M contesting and especially on 20m cw the sub rx is not really
necessary...now for the good news...inband interference went down by
approximately 60 db...out of band interference
went down by over 80 db....I will report more on the radios
performance after the cqww cw test...but the initial results are very
promising...40m, 80m, and 15m could be next...also possible methods to
incorporate switchable xtal filters for the MULT stations will have to
be considered....the goal has been to improve inband interference so
that either the RUN or MULT station could hear while the other is
transmitting...The Orion 565 is one of the cleanest transmitt rigs and
also one of the best filtered receivers on the market...I currently
use 11 Orion 565's at my Multi Multi contest station in Griffin,
Ga...the results since moving over to all TenTec rigs is simply
amazing....a true testament to TenTec...and their continued support of
the Orion 565.

de Rick NQ4I