[TenTec] Orion I , worth the trouble?

[Kim Elmore]

This isn't unique to TT. It's an issue across the board: semiconductor devices come and go based on high-volume commercial requirements, often military. Amateur gear is such low-volume that no semiconductor maker will design something solely for us. Almost all such devices are pressed into amateur service. 

The Dragonball's bread and butter was Palm devices. When those went the way of the dodo, the Dragonball went with it. 

I have an Orion II with the RX-366 and all the roofing filters. I know that if the processor goes, it does, too. But, I still like the rig and have no plans to unload it. 

Kim N5OP

"People that make music together cannot be enemies, at least as long as the music lasts." -- Paul Hindemith

> On Jun 2, 2017, at 21:11, dale via TenTec <tentec at contesting.com> wrote:
> 
> Arthur
> not a program and change out I would want to try, myself. Guess I will just keep my flex 5000a and maybe the collins kWh-2 also.
> thanks
> dale
> wt4t
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Arthur Isaenko" <isartw at gmail.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 6:31pm
> To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
> Cc: wt4t at reagan.com
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion I , worth the trouble?
> 
> Asked Mike same question when stopped at the tent in Xenia. He said one of the main problem is that Dragonball processor is discontinued. They don’t have spare parts and that would be the main problem for Orion.
> I’m a big fan of Orion and Tentec but this type of answer makes me think twice when I would consider to buy my next rig. So, we have what we have. The only way I see if something goes wrong here is to replace that controller with Raspberry PI 3 model B as the main controller. This is open platform, but that would require some effort.
> One of the advantage of this idea is that we would be able to have new display, network connection out of the box and HDMI output. But I’m not sure how may Orion owners would want to buy that new controller. So, it may not be self sustainable project.
> 
> Regards,
> Arthur VE3EUT
> 
>> On Jun 2, 2017, at 7:09 PM, dale via TenTec <tentec at contesting.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I was planning to trade off some collins equipment and received a offer  to trade the collins ,about 1100.00, for a Orion I. Is this a rig to stay away from? Has tuner, all filters, updated to blue screen. I have 2 worries,1 that ten tec is not going to be around as we know it and 2nd , there are major chips or chip that is no longer able to get ,from anyone ,yet alone Ten Tec. I have a closet kilowatt, and a mix of other ten tec gear , always liked it. If anyone has thoughts about this ,please get back.
>> 73
>> dale
>> wt4t
>> 
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