[1000mp] ORION X FT 1000MP and IC 756 PROII

[Bill Tippett]

K6SE wrote:
 >The headphone output mod on the Orion that Bill, W4ZV mentioned is a
"band-aid" to cover up the audio whine that all Orions have.  When they
modified my Orion to "correct" the audio whine, all they did was to add
resistance to the headphone output.  This merely made the whine weaker
(as well as the desired audio).

         Earl, I have excellent hearing and have never heard any whine in
my Orion, either using two different Heil Pro-Sets or Etymotic ER-6
in-ear earphones.  My Orion has plenty of audio and is set to ~50%.

 >I complained to Ten-Tec also
about the hassle necessary to put the radio into the correct split-mode
operation.  Their answer was that their DXer beta testers said it was
fine the way it was.  If so, then why are Bill and I (we are both DXers)
not happy with it?

         Maybe you gave up too soon.  I can do it very quickly now but I
agree it could be easier, and suspect it will be improved.  I'll bet you a
beer it will be improved before Yaesu fixes key clicks!  ;-)

 >When I A/B'd the radio for weak signal reception versus other radios, the
Orion placed a sorry last, even though I tried every conceiveable
programmable AGC setup.  When Ten-Tec implied that I was operating the
radio incorrectly, that was the last straw!

         My results contradict yours in contests on both 160 meters and 10 
meters.
In the recent CQ 160, I had the third highest # of countries in the USA at 
61.  W2GD
(multiop) had 64 and W8JI had 66.  In both CQ WW's on 10 meters, I also had 
very
respectable multipliers and comparable QSO's (below) versus top USA 
multi-multi's.

SSB: K9NS - 1940, KC1XX - 1894, W3LPL - 1717, W4ZV - 1937 (+4.7% vs top 3 avg)
CW:  K9NS - 1766, W3LPL - 1624, KC1XX - 1589, W4ZV - 1592 (-4.1% vs top 3 avg)

 >The FT-1000MP and the IC756Pro2 both can run circles around the Orion in
a contest environment as far as ease of operation is concerned.  Any BDR
and/or IMD3 problems these radios have can easily be taken care of by
using the radio's built-in attenuator.

         We've had this discussion before and I can only conclude you don't
have as many signals (strong or weak) to deal with on 160 in W6...I suppose
because of antenna restrictions and the cost of real estate.  I assure
you that it is very different here on the East Coast or in Europe.  Here's
what Tom W8JI had to say about receiver dynamic range just today on the
Topband reflector:

"The largest DR I need here is about 80-90dB, and it takes an
exceptional signal to require that much. I find the first hop from moderate
distances like W4ZV, AA1K, and W8LRL (300-700 miles) to be much more
problematic than stuff ten miles from me.

The 80-90dB requirement is probably why I don't notice a bit of change
between the Orion and the modified FT1000D with band crud on receive, but
why receivers in the 70-80dB range are almost useless in contests."

http://dayton.akorn.net/pipermail/topband/2004-February/018649.html

...also:

"Always remember actual overload is the result of the vector sum of signals
in the passband of the system at that point. One way to look at it is that
overload is an accumulated power problem, not an absolute level problem
with one signal. This means a great number of weaker signals can cause
the same problem as a few strong ones."

http://www.w8ji.com/how_to_check_signals.htm

         I am glad you are very happy with your MP and PRO II, but I feel you
live in a different world than I do.  It would be nice to not to have to 
deal with
strong signal interference, but I certainly would not want to trade places with
you for propagation reasons.  ;-)

                                         73,  Bill  W4ZV