[UK-CONTEST] thanks from GU4CHY
Tim Makins, EI8IC
contesting at eircom.net
Wed Oct 22 18:04:02 EDT 2003
See below...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Allisette" <Richard.Allisette at virgin.net>
To: <UK-Contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 8:20 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] thanks from GU4CHY
> Dear All,
>
> Many thanks to all of you that replied regarding my 6 million dollar
> question as to what is the best CW/contest rig on the market - new or
> secondhand.
> People seemed to fall into two camps - those who love the FT1000 and its
> children and those that most certainly don't.
> I'm still not sure but will soldier on with a TS830S until something jumps
> out at me.
> On a totally separate note, does anyone have any QSL info on P27AZ? I
worked
> him yesterday on 20m and can't find reference to him on any of the usual
> sources.
> Could have been a pirate but sounded genuine as I was working a string of
> VK/ZL stations long path at the time.
>
> 73 Dick GU4CHY
----- Original Message -----
From: "john devoldere, ON4UN" <john.devoldere at pandora.be>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 9:34 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] ON4UN and the Ten-Tec Orion
> Hi friends DX-ers, contesters and low(top) band DX-ers!
>
> I have been usings a Ten Tec ORION transceiver for several months. I
> thought
> maybe you'd like to have my comments on this new radio. Here it is:
>
>
> 1/ looks
> I first saw a prototype of the ORION at HamCom in Dallas in 2002. I liked
> the looks. When I saw the specs I liked the radio even better. I picked
up
> my new ORION in mid-June 2003. My first impression has not changed: clean
> layout, knobs and controls positioned just where they should be,
good-sized
> tuning knobs that feel very well. In one word "it all fits my hands and
> fingers". And it does not have the looks of the mass consumer electronic
> gadgets, it's sober and very functional, which is what I like.
>
> 2/ software updates and response
> Maybe the greatest innovation brought about by the ORION is the concept
of
> a
> top-notch radio with firmware updates via the Internet. This makes it
> possible to provide continuous and free of charge improvements. That's
the
> technology of today. It also made it possible for TT to release a product
> early 2003 that maybe was not 100% complete, but at the same time avoided
> making us eager contesters and DX-ers wait another 6 months for the
radio.
> It also is undoubtedly the best way for TT to get live feedback from the
> field. Some (very few) people seem to complain that Ten-Tec is regularly
> improving the ORION.Those who don't like this idea do best to wait a
little
> longer until all wrinkles have been ironed out and all sensible and
> possible
> suggestions of the customers have been implemented. I, for one, decided
to
> go ahead and get one of the earlier ORIONs, and decided to be part of
this
> improvement process, and add my 2 cents worth. Contacts with TT have been
> excellent. Jack (K4JU), Doug (KF6DX), Gary (AC4DL) and Scott (W4PA), were
> all one very responsive and all ears for comments, suggestions and even
> complaints!
>
> Response to my suggestions was swift, and in a matter of weeks a great
> number of the suggestions I made were implemented. I was happy to be an
> informal Beta tester for their firmware updates, and I spent many hours
> trying to make things go wrong. At the end the software became so
thorough
> I
> felt miserable trying to make things go wrong! I've heard of a few people
> who did not like the concept of firmware updates; they obviously have not
> yet understood the power of this advanced concept. My reaction: let them
> come, the firmware upgrades, I know each time it is a further improvement
> to
> the product.
>
> Some ergonomic shortcomings, mainly in the radio control software, which
> were part of the first few firmware releases have all been taken care of.
I
> did not return my ORION for these shortcomings, I decided to be part of
the
> ongoing improvement process for this product, and add my inputs. This way
> the final ORION has a little bit of myself in it!
>
> 3/ manual
> The original manual was not great (I am polite), I agree, but that's been
> taken care of now, and since September 22nd, anyone can download the
latest
> manual from the TT website. Scott, W4PA, took care of that. The manual
> covers just about every aspect of the radio. Of course, the radio is so
> flexible there are literally hundreds of ways you can set it up to do
> exactly what you want it to do. I assume that lots of these
configurations
> will be made available by the users on the TT reflector. As indicated in
> the
> manual, the Orion is indeed a substantially different radio from what we
> have known so far. It is no secret that the first thing that attracted me
> is
> the excellent dynamic range (also at very close signal spacing), which
> should be a real asset for Low Band DXing and contesting. Ten-Tec
> implemented the DX-ers' and contesters' wishes that were published in the
> 3rd edition of my Low Band DX-ing book. Other non-US manufacturers
largely
> decided to ignore the inputs from DX-ers and contesters until now.
>
> 4/ testing basic specs at W8JI
> After I picked up my unit in the US early June, I drove to Tom, W8JI and
we
> tested the dynamic range and sensitivity (MDS) in his well-equipped lab.
> What we found was within measurement error of what TT publishes, in other
> words: excellent! We also had a really close look at the transmitted CW
> waveform, and it is excellent as well. Now at least and at last I can be
on
> CW without having to fear someone calling me with a "you have key clicks"
> comment.
> I have been playing with the Orion in a few contests, where it gets
really
> crowded, especially on 40m. Amazing: in between signals, the band sounds
> quiet. No blurps, beeps and other alien weak signals that sometimes sound
> like CW using a different code. Nothing like that. What you hear is
what's
> there! The narrow front-end filters really do their job. My radio has got
> all of them
>
> 5/ The AGC issue
> The use of the AGC (the programmable setting) requires a good
understanding
> on how the radio works. Of course TT could have left out the programmable
> settings, and could have fixed us up with just 3 or 4 "fixed" standard
> settings. After discussing this to a great length TT decided to make all
> settings programmable: a sign of confidence that TT trusts that their
> customers will take the time to understand the radio and use its
> capabilities to its fullest extent!
>
> TT has in their latest manual a section explaining how to set the AGC
> variables (also available on their web site). Make sure you study this
and
> fully understand it before starting to play around with changing the 3
> variables involved.
>
> We have read on various reflectors that in the beginning apparently some
> hams started experimenting with the AGC without knowing what they were
> doing. And they were disappointed. They fooled themselves, I am afraid. I
> must admit it's easy to be fooled, as the lowest setting of the AGG
> threshold does -as a rule- not give you the best sensitivity! I found
that
> approx. 2.0 - 3.0 uV is a good starting point to experiment. It's not
> because you hear more noise at 0.4 uV that you have a better S/N ratio!
On
> the same issue of sensitivity: I have done hundreds of A/B tests between
my
> old radio (the most popular brand with low-band DX-ers and contesters)
and
> the ORION (at the same time, not with 1 or 2 weeks in between!) and I
have
> never (whatever band) found the ORION not to hear a weak CW-signal that I
> could hear on the "old radio". To the contrary! But I was listening to
> CW-signals, not to carriers (I'm not really interested in "working"
steady
> carriers or broadcast harmonics).
>
> 6/ BW
> One of the great assets of the ORION is the continuously variable IF
> bandwidth. If the band is not too crowded or if there is not too much QRN
> you may want to use 800 or 1000 Hz BW on CW, otherwise you can crank it
> down
> all the way to 250 or 150 Hz. Great thing is that at 150 Hz bandwidth
> there
> still is not a trace of ringing. Noise content in such a small bandwidth
> becomes very low, but you must be tuned right on the spot! On SSB it is a
> joy sometimes to listen to good audio with 3 or 4 kHz bandwidth. Sounds
> much
> like AM. With the PBT you can really adjust everything until it just
sounds
> right. Flexible, smooth and easy. The measured bandwidth and resulting
> shape
> factor are:
>
> Nominal BW (Hz) -6dB BW (Hz) -60dB BW (Hz) Shape factor
> 100 150 440
> 2.9:1
> 250 240 470
> 1.95:1
> 500 510 820
> 1.6:1
> 1000 980 1160
> 1.2:1
> 1600 1580 1880
> 1.2:1
> 2400 2300 2650
> 1.15:1
> 3000 2930 3270
> 1.12:1
> 4000 3960 4280
> 1.08:1
>
> Although the shape factor at narrow bandwidths may not look spectacular,
I
> have found this set-up where CW ringing is totally absent, to be the
> smoothest and most efficient way of obtaining the most suitable BW for
> every
> individual situation. TT has informed me that they will change the
display
> so that the most narrow bandwidth displays 150 and not 100 Hz.
>
> 7/ NR
> The noise reduction works extremely well, a dramatic change from what I
had
> in my previous radio.
>
> 8/ Notches
> Another nice feature is that we have two notches: A DSP automatic notch
for
> carriers on SSB, and a hand-adjusted notch (frequency and bandwidth are
> adjustable) for use in CW! Yes also on CW a notch can be very handy
> sometimes.
>
> 9/ Panoramic stereo receive
> The Panoramic Stereo receive feature is great fun: when using stereo
> phones,
> signals move from one side through center to the other side in your
> headphones as you tune across the band. Help reducing fatigue when
working
> long hours on CW. It should also be useful in quickly working multiple
> callers in a pileup.
>
> 10/ Using it on CW
> On CW-transmit the ORION is a real joy to use. Beautiful waveform, good
> keying characteristics, and with the continuously variable bandwidth down
> to
> 150 Hz, a real delight. The built-in keyer works great as well, and the
> legendary Ten-Tec QSK works as well as ever.
> W8JI found out, and I can confirm this, that for weak signal CW reception
> especially in presence of noise (QRN) it seems best to select the roofing
> filter manually (250 Hz) and then set the DSP bandwidth to approx.
500-800
> Hz.
>
> 11/ using it on SSB
> On SSB I have been receiving nothing but excellent audio reports, even
from
> the experts on 14178 kHz! The fact that you can adjust almost anything in
> software makes it possible to obtain good audio with a very wide range of
> microphones. There is digital audio enhancement (Low and High), you can
> adjust the "transmit filter" bandwidth from 1000 Hz (yes!) to 3900 Hz,
set
> the Low end roll of (between 50 and 300 Hz) etc. If you have it set all
> wrong the audio can indeed sound bad, but once you find the proper
settings
> success is guaranteed. And TT has published a list of settings for the
most
> common microphones in the manual, but I think they need to add Heil HC-4
> and
> HC-5 elements, as well as the Heil Pro Goldline microphone.
>
> 12/ using it on FSK
> The ORION has true FSK capabilities (no need to mess with audio tones),
and
> in FSK the tones on reception are automatically set for the high tones.
> Copy
> of RTTY is flawless with bandwidth down to 150 Hz!
>
> 13/ and on PSK31
> If you are a PSK fan, you can look at 5 kHz of FSK signals, or narrow the
> bandwidth down to 150 Hz, and just have one signal going to your sound
> card.
> Ideal! And if you narrow the BW down to 150 Hz, you will also HEAR the
PSK
> signal. I've heard people saying that in FSK we can work signals we
cannot
> hear at all. This is not quite true, because the sound card uses very
> narrow
> BW, and if we use ORION's "similar" BW we can definitely "hear" the FSK
> signals...
>
> 14/ The audio
> The sound from the (large!) built-in speaker is much better than from all
> other transceivers I have had, and there is plenty of volume. Audio
output
> on the headphones jack is plenty as well, even if you use not so
sensitive
> headphones.
>
> 15/ the second receiver
> The Orion has two radios that sound identical (not like in another
2-radio
> transceiver I had so far where one radio sounded like the "good" one and
> the
> other like the "cheaper" one.). The 2nd receiver uses exactly the same
DSP
> IF, the only difference with the main RX is that it does NOT have the
> narrow
> roofing filters, and that the higher 1st IF make it possible to be a
> general
> coverage receiver.
>
> Whereas the TT-manual suggests that diversity reception is possible with
> the
> Orion, it really is not what I call true diversity reception. To me true
> diversity reception is only possible if both receivers are phase locked
and
> that the phase delay through both receivers is nearly identical. This is
> not
> the case in the ORION. Listen to the same signal through both receivers
> using the same VFO, and you hear the warble (flutter, rapid fading)
caused
> by the phase difference. This warble is always there and in my eyes makes
> real diversity impossible. This does not mean that under certain
> circumstances you may not find a benefit in using different antennas on
the
> 2 receivers on (almost) the same frequency. While TT doesn't claim that
> both
> receivers are phase locked, they think that there are advantages when
using
> e.g. a vertical and horizontal antenna or two horizontal antennas
separated
> by at least a wavelength with the Orion using two radios in a single
audio
> amplifier and claim that some of their customers have found this form of
> diversity with non phase-locked receivers useful.
>
> 16/ two transmitter outputs
> With two transmitter outputs, you can almost configure the ORION for a
> 2-radio contest station, with two amplifiers. This does NOT mean the
Orion
> has 2 transmitters; you transmit either to output A or to output B. The
> Orion has two band-data output connectors, one corresponding to each
output
> connector, and this make it possible to steer automatic antenna and
> amplifier switching. Two TX-EN lines (one for each output) can be used to
> inhibit the transmitter in full QSK or also when using a complex antenna
> switching system where such an RX-inhibit line is used to prevent
> transmitting on the wrong antenna or while antennas are being switched.
>
> 17/ firmware upgrades
> Upgrading firmware takes less than 5 minutes. The new upgrades are
> announced
> on http://www.rfsquared.com/ . You can download a small program
> (update.exe)
> on this site, which you put in your ORION directory on the PC controlling
> the ORION. The serial port interface from the ORION, connecting to your
PC,
> will not only take care of the communication with your contesting or
> logging
> program, it will also talk to the Ten Tec Flash Update utility program
> (Update.exe). When a new firmware update is available, save it in the
same
> directory where you saved update.exe. Follow the instructions from the
> manual, and in a few minutes you have a new, latest model ORION! Great
> feeling!
>
> 18/ suggestions and shortcomings
> On the negative side: the Voice memory keyer is much too slow in saving
to
> memory (not useful at all in a contest).
>
> I also would like to see the possibility to see different external T/R
> delays for SSB and CW. Now you can set one delay for output A (going to
> amplifier A) and another one for output B (going to amplifier B). Having
> separately adjustable delays for SSB and CW should only be a minor
software
> change, I think.
>
> Suggestion: It would be nice if the user could, from his PC, upload HIS
> frequency /mode / bandwidth definitions (a one time task to do, without
> having to control the radio from a PC on a permanent basis). Doing so he
> could just enter a frequency from the Orion keyboard and it would
> selectively make a corresponding standard bandwidth, all this in
accordance
> to his frequency / mode / bandwidth chart. We understand this cannot be a
> standard thing as band-planning differs in different IARU regions, and
even
> in accordance to individual operators.
>
> I know TT has thought about these wishes, but not all of them can be on
the
> top of their priority change list at the same time. I know they do listen
> to
> their customers and try to learn from them to make a better product. Wise
> strategy! By the time you read this, some of these "wishes" are very
likely
> to have become true. Bill, W4ZV, eminent top-band DX-er worded it very
well
> on the Internet: "KUDOS to TenTec for LISTENING to actual users!
Japanese
> manufacturers must surely be watching the success Elecraft and Ten-Tec
are
> having by incorporating real time user feedback into their products. If
> they don't soon start doing the same, I believe they will all be history
in
> a few years."
>
> Even as I write the final lines of this report I think I have found one
or
> two very minor control software glitches, which I know TT will correct in
> one of their next firmware upgrades. It's great not having to be worried
> about such issues, the people are there at TT to solve them, and the
system
> is in place to provide every customer with the solution almost in real
> time.
> This is what I always dreamed about!
>
> 19/ Learning curve
> In the beginning you may undoubtedly feel a little lost in the
programming
> screens, although they are laid out in a very logical way, and are easy
to
> understand, and they shows real words, no cryptic code you need to
> decipher!
> But there are so many things you can adjust. This will go away after a
few
> weeks, and you will soon feel like a king on his throne being able to
> control just about all the issues of this wonderful radio.
>
> 20/ hardware
> When you open the ORION, your first reaction will likely be: is that all?
> It
> indeed looks like an almost empty box. No 1-inch thick bundles or wires,
> just a few (mostly coaxial) cables. The rest of connecting is done by
> back-plane technology, where all the boards plug in. I always jokingly
say
> that I can pack my sandwiches and my shoes inside the ORION, and it would
> still accommodate more. Another nice thing is its weight: 20 lbs (9 kg).
A
> 25 A 13.7V power supply is required, as no PS is built in.
>
> 21/ conclusion
> I have always dreamed of the ideal low band DX-er and contester machine,
> and
> I must say that Ten Tec has come very close to my wildest dreams.
> Congratulations to TT for a wonderful product for excellent service and
> customer care. The way TT tries to satisfy the wishes of its customers is
> more than exemplary. The Orion transceiver clearly scores very near
maximum
> on whatever scale you can imagine. My order for a second Orion for my
> 2-radio contesting station is out and I can't wait to get it! I will be
> proud having a 2 radio contesting station with what seem to me like the
> best
> radios at this time on the market. And don't forget that the sunspot
cycle
> is on its way down. As a result the low bands will become more and more
> appealing. The ORION may well make the difference.
>
> 22/ The Orion in Europe.
> At this time (early October 2003) the Ten Tec cannot be sold in the EC
> market, as it has no CE label yet. I have been informed that procedure is
> underway to obtain the CE label though, which will make if fully legal to
> buy, possess and operate an Orion in the EC countries soon. I understand
> the
> CE-certification may be a fact well before the end of this year, so
> European
> potential customers can put the ORION on their X-mas shopping list.
>
>
> 73
>
> John, ON4UN
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
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> http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
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>
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