[1000mp] Ten-Tec Orion - Initial Impressions

[1000mp@mailman.qth.net]

Hi, Joe,

You wrote:

"Earl, this was wonderfully thorough review, and I am most appreciative."
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Perhaps my review was premature.  Afterwards I A/B switched the Orion
with my FT-1000MP to see how it compared on digging weak CW signals out
of the noise.  There was no comparison -- the MP won easily.  Because to
this and other dislikes I have about the Orion, I returned it to Ten-Tec
for  refund.

Other dislikes I had were:

1) Audio whine in the headphone output, very noticeable in narrow CW BWs.

2) Poor implementation of AGC action on CW.

3) NR not effective at all on CW.

4) Poor ergonomics - too many button presses and knob twirling needed
when you want to change something during the normal course of operation.
==========

"Did TenTec finally windup using a B&W screen or did they add some
color?"
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No color.  The LCD display is strictly B&W.
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"Sounds like that IF DSP is really doing the job."
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I was mistaken in my original assessment of the NR on CW.  I have not
been able to duplicate the way it seemed to work on CW initially.  In
fact, the NR does absolutely nothing on CW when the bandwidth is narrowed
down.
==========

"Are the optional filters really necessary?"
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For the serious CW operator, I would recommend the 500 Hz filter. 
There's little noticeable difference between that and the 250 Hz filter
when you're using 100 Hz DSP bandwidth.

73, de Earl, K6SE