[Elecraft] K2 and Ten-Tec Orion

[k6se@juno.com]

Bob, WA4FOM wrote:

"I was wondering if anyone else out there has both an Orion and a K2, and
wouldn't mind sharing their objective and/or subjective viewpoints
regarding both radios.  I have had an Orion for about two weeks now and,
while I must say it's a nice radio, I haven't quite decided that it's
"over 2 times the price of a K2 nice".

Any opinions, operating hints, and experiences would be welcome.  In all
fairness to the Orion, it's easy to run it in a "non-optimal mode" so as
to mask what it's really capable of, but so far, my K2 runs neck and neck
with the Orion, except in the filtering category, and that may change
once I get my KDSP2."
==========
My main interest is CW DXing on the 160-meter band.  Hoping that the
Orion would be an improvement in digging weak CW signals out of the
noise, I ordered an Orion and it was delivered on May 16th.

When I compared the Orion with my FT-1000MP and my K2 (without KDSP2)
listening to weak on-air CW signals and using a coax switch to switch the
antenna between the three radios, I was appalled at the performance of
the Orion.  As far as copying weak CW signals in the noise, it couldn't
hold a candle to the MP or K2.  

There were also a number of other things I didn't like about the Orion
and on June 16th I called Ten-Tec requesting a refund under their 30-day
trial policy and shipped the radio back to them.  I told them that if
they found something was wrong with the radio to make it perform so
poorly on weak CW signals to repair it and send it back to me.  They
played with in on the bench for about a week and said they couldn't find
anything wrong with it and issued me a refund.

If anybody knows that I'm critical about a radio's performance, it's
those who read the Elecraft e-mail reflector.  Wayne and Eric took my
complaints about my K2 (mostly BFO and PLL drift) seriously enough to
correct those deficiencies with modifications which are now included in
all new K2s.  I sincerely hope that Ten-Tec does something to correct the
problems with the Orion but, unlike Wayne and Eric, I doubt it because I
got the impression that they felt I didn't know how to operate the radio
and wrote me off as a 'weirdo'.

With the introduction of the KDSP2, the K2 is now a world-class radio
without any doubt.  I cannot come close to saying that about the Orion.

73, de Earl, K6SE