apache-labs.com

Hi All,

Last year, I purchased a second hand Orion MKII board from W6 guy.
I left it for several months, and recently I started the mount of it in a case to make use of it. So far I used Hermes for long time, so my experience is limited to this nice Hermes.

Compared with Hermes, the TX output quality of Orion MK II is not good in terms of harmonics and IMD.

The output power of Orion is around 800mW with Drive 100 on Thetis with H/W 7000DLE selected and the default PA settings. The IMD is around 35 dB for almost all bands. The higher the band, the better IMD. For the harmonics, it is not compared with Hermes.

This is a second hand Orion, so I would like to adjust again the bias voltage of the final push-pull amplifier of this Orion. FYI, OC output sink driver was damaged and I was obliged to replaced it. I couldn’t rely on the current board setting.

Has anyone tried to adjust bias voltages? Or is the TX output quality of Orion as I described?

Your comments would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Tokio
ja1cca

Hi,

I once measured my Orion MK2.
The PDF is in German but the pictures speak for themselves.

Your board seems to be ok.

73'René

Hi René

Thank you very much for your document on measuring IMD.
The screenshot is almost the same as my measurement.
As a result, my Orion TX seems to be good.

To get 2000mW, do you remember how to adjust PA setting?
My settings, as default, are around 50 in set-up menu with Thetis and 7000DLE selected.

73,
Tokio
ja1cca

HI All,

I measured the output power of my Orion MKII by PA Setting to 46.5 for 40 meters band (7000DLE selected).
The power is around 2,060mW and the IMD is around 35dB. The IMD is almost the same as the PA setting 53.3.

My Orion MKII amplifier is good enough to use it.

Is Orion MKII designed for 3W or 2W?

73,
Tokio
ja1cca