[Elecraft] K2 and Ten-Tec Orion

[Bill Tippett]

WA4FOM wrote:
 >

I was wondering if anyone else out there
has both an Orion and a K2


Bob, the following is a private message from someone who has both
but I will not give his call since it was a PM:

"The strong signal handling capability is incredible. I have measured all 
of the
current radios and the best of them, the ft-1000's as a group, the K2, and the
IC-781 are at the top of the pack and seperated by a difference of only a
few db (that you will probabily never hear in the real world). The K2 has
good overload characteristics but the ultimate selectivity of a single
conversion radio is not competetive.  The Orion is the only radio that is so
vastly better that signals can be heard solid on it that are totally blanked
on my reference 781."

         My personal opinion is that, unless you are a serious contester, or
currently experience strong-signal overload with your K2 (close neighbors
or have a high-gain antenna system with very strong propagated signals),
the Orion is overkill for the average ham.  I would be very hard-pressed to
say the extra $2000 is justified unless you needed the absolute best strong-
signal performance.  IMHO the K2 is the best value of any Big 3 transceivers
currently on the market, and substantially outperforms ALL of them in strong-
signal handling performance at close signal spacings as documented by ARRL
Test results.  BTW, in case you haven't seen the ARRL 5 kHz measurements
on Orion's webpage, here is the summary (same basic data as Elecraft's but
adds Orion measurements by TenTec...ARRL Test Report not done yet):

"Numbers quoted for competitor's transceivers are taken from ARRL Product 
Reviews, 14 MHz, preamp off.   8 to 10 dB generally constitutes a 
meaningful difference in receiver performance ability.   Dynamic range 
alone says nothing about how well the radio will handle strong signals; it 
indicates the ratio between the strongest signals and the weakest signals 
that can be handled without front-end distortion and desense.  Third-order 
intercept point is an excellent indicator of how well the receiver will 
react in the presence of nearby signals of significant strength. "

Radio         IMDDR3 (dB)     IP3/TOI (dBm)

ORION           101             +24

Elecraft K2     88               +1

FT1000MP Mk V   73             -5.2

Kenwood TS2000  69              -15

Icom IC756 Pro2 76              -18.8

Source:  http://www.tentec.com/TT565.htm


                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV

P.S.  Still waiting to see a few more reports for the KDSP2 before
ordering a K2/160/NB/KDSP2 for portable/QRP use and as a second RX.