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You can
write your own review of the Ten-Tec Orion II.
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W6NFL
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 22, 2009 13:22
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Just Ok
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well i wasnt going to comment on this rig but since i see so many perfect scores here i almost feel obligated to. First off the receiver is excellent. Pulls out weak signals nicely and has very good strong adjacent signal rejection. TX audio is very good as well and easily tailored. The Display is nice too. Very Bright and menus are easy to access. The scope is a tad slow and pretty much disappears when you turn the vfo knob. Not a real big deal though imho. AGC and characteristics of how the s meter acts felt like an old Swan radio. Again not a huge deal and just a slight annoyance. So why the 3 score? Well for a rig in this price range, the build quality is terrible! You might say well its whats inside that counts. Well, if you bought a high dollar car you would expect it to perform well but you wouldnt expect cheap interior would you? Ive never seen this cheap of a build in a radio in this price range. When i first took mine out of the box and hooked it up, i turned the volume knob and honestly thought the turning pot was defective or knob itself was stripped. VERY loose feel with no smooth feel at all. All the knobs were like this. The knobs themselves looked real cheap and not perfectly round! When you turn them the plastice knobs are out of round. Also if you look at a picture of a Orion II you see what appears to be an outter silver collar which on most rigs is a seperate adjustment. Well on the Orion II its fake. The knob is one piece and that outter silver collar is just for looks. The overall impression of the rig's build quality had a home brew feel to it.
I think a 5 rating should take everything into consideration. Maybe some folks could careless about build quality and thats fine and for those people maybe they shoud give it a 5 rating but for me I cant honestly give it more than a 3 as an overall score.
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W3VR
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 13, 2009 10:57
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Very competent.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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566AT w/full compliment of filters, mfr'd in 2006. Purchased used. I'm second owner. Owned almost a year. Own several modern HF xcvrs. The Orion II has become one of my favorite. Very good QSK. Very good xmit/rcv audio. I use the PR781 dynamic mic, and use a second receiver to set up the transmit audio, as done with all my xcvrs. I have found the unit very easy to set up, and mine has been problem free. Firmware very easy to upgrade. I do wish the Orion II was a bit smaller, but that is my only complaint. Prior to the Orion II, I had the Elecraft K3/100. If I was a CW only operator and operated mostly portable, I would have kept the K3. Didn't care for the "tin can" rcvr voice audio of the K3, (although I do like the K3 xmit audio I hear from various operators) was very fatiguing for me through speaker or headphones regardless of how I adjusted the rcvr EQ. I very much prefer the full rich audio of the Orion II. All around good unit for CW/Voice. These are my opinions without aimlessly rambling, bloviating unecessarily, overt gushing, or nit picking it to death.
Overall, very happy with the Orion II. There is no perfect HF XCVR. I do give it a 5/5 because it meets all my requirements, and it's made in and supported in the USA.
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KF8HW
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 1, 2009 10:47
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A great rig American hams can be proud of!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I will not reiterate technical pros/cons since several have done good jobs of that all ready. The O2 does a terrific job. I have been won over to the first-rate service & support that Ten Tec provides. I am happy with the rig! It does take some time to learn, but you will have a radio that will do the job for you in any operating environment you may find yourself in. 73!
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W4USA
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 23, 2009 19:58
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Super Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have operated the Orion-II for over 2 years.
It is a super radio for the serious radio operator. Great design - great people.
I have every brand of HF radio and have operated over 30 years. My Orion-II is where I go when I need that extra edge to pull-out those weak stations or filter-out those who need to qsy to 2 meters. The ORION-II is worth every penny.
A must for the serious DXer.
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W4PIG
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 19, 2009 11:35
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w4pig
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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this radio is top of the line both in receive and transmit. very nice to listen to and can be set up to the personel operators choice. very user friendly and has great transmit audio. good job ten tec.
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KD9Y
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 20, 2009 05:03
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Great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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If you have not yet upgraded to the latest TEN-TEC firmware for the Orion II, you are missing something. The scope area is larger and now you have the choise of either a waterfall or a spectrum display. I prefer the waterfall because you can see signals better. Also, there is a cursor above the waterfall that moves with the tuning knob. All you have to do is line up the cursor with a line on the waterfall and the receiver will tune to that signal...very nice. Thanks TEN-TEC for your continued support of Ham Radio.
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SV8ING
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 4, 2009 00:42
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Best ESSB radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The Orion II has anything that an ESSB enthousiast could ask for.Very good,smooth audio which can be tailored as you want,and it can handle external audio gear like compressors, EQ's ,bass processors etc.
The receiver is excellent and you can hear any station ,just ''work '' with the AGC settings and you will see stations jumping over the noise.
Now I am running the 2.041XT beta FW which has added new features ,like a very good sweep scope and the AF AGC.A little work needs to be done by TT to correct some bugs and the ORION II would be one of the best rigs out there.
73
Fotis SV8ING
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W7WZ
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Rating: 5/5
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May 4, 2009 07:35
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Living Color
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The clear, crisp, bright color display is absolutely beautiful! Pictures do not do it justice. It can easily be seen from any angle and even across the room.
The audio on receive and transmitt is simple to tailor to your liking. TenTec CW performance is legendary and the O2 is no exception. Software control keeps this radio current while the large knobs and traditionl analog S-meter offer a traditional radio look and feel. QRM rejection, noise reduction and weak signal performance are all superior. I find this transceiver to be feature rich; while easy to tailor and operate.
The Orion II does so many things well that it stands out as the best overall value and competes very well with equipment offered at twice the price. It will be my primary tranceiver for many years to come. I especially love the color display. Seeing is believing. Thank you TenTec.
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KT0DD
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 5, 2009 09:06
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Still Going Strong...
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It's been over a year since my last posting, so thought I'd let everyone know that as far as I'm concerned, my O2 is still keeping me happy. Yes, radios have evolved since the O2 came out. However, in it's price class,I have yet to find a rig with the bang for the buck that the O2 has. I would have to spend over twice the money for the performance and features I have now. Yes, the K3 caught my interest, but as primarily a SSB operator, I have heard the K3 SSB audio fidelity is not quite as good.
Dual receivers, computer upgradeable, and a 96db dynamic range at 2 khz spacing is amazing. The only additions to my wish list are a higher speed sweep function without sacrificing the sweep screen format in software version 2.039. Version 2.041 changes the screen format too radically for my tastes. Also, I would like to see the ability to run an outboard Yaesu-type DMU unit tailored for the O2. One nice thing about being computer upgradeable is there is always room for these improvments. Now, If only I were CEO of Ten Tec...HI HI, maybe they would listen to me...LOL. 73. Todd - KT0DD
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KM4BS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 25, 2009 18:06
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The Best
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have just acquired my 3rd Orion II and am glad to be back with Ten Tec. I keep thinking I want to try something else and always regret it. I have had them side by side with the rest and the Orions come out on top hands down. had one side by side with a Pro III during the Peter One expedition and when they faded out comepletely on the Pro III they were still workable with the Orion. This one will not leave the bench. If you want to ragchew any radio will work, but if you want to pull out the weak ones buy the Orion. You will not regret it.
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