Just realized I had never posted a review for the Orion. Orion I and Orion II are so close and the same that my review for one is essentially the same for th other. That's not the case with the Orion as I have had times when I couldn't work a station on my ICOMs or my Kenwood or Yaesu's and had to use my Orion in order to understand the weakest of stations in part, many times due to high band noise that the Orion simply was better at being immune to. I also can say that I've always heard that given most every Amateur Radio made that one radio may have some slight advantage over another or feature over another but in the end usually you won't hear or be able to work a weak station on one radio that you can't work on a given other. They are simply wonderful radios that never should have seen a stop in production and are still among the best radios ever produced with receivers that will challenge the most expensive Amateur Radios that are made including the new SDR radios and new SDR Hybrid radios. It is a general coverage receiver whereas the RX366 is a ham band only receiver, just like the main receiver so if you want to receive General Coverage, out of Ham Band transmissions, then you really only need the standard 2nd receiver that comes standard in either the Orion I or the Orion II. The main, first, receiver is much more filtered and has a preamp function however even though it isnt' the optional 2nd receiver that the RX366 is the standard 2nd receiver is great and I actually prefer it over the optional one. Fact is that every Orion I or Orion II comes with two independent and separate receivers. I've been told, by Ten-Tec employees that the Optional RX366 2nd receiver is essentially a Ten-Tec Eagle receiver inside the Orion. Lastly with regards to the optional RX366 Optional 2nd receiver. If you see one for sale it's usually from an estate because these are such great performers that people don't let go of them. When I become a silent Key I'm sure they most likely will come up for sale just like most other Orions. Other than that there may be a few other very minor differences but both Orions are fantastic radios and I don't plan on selling or divesting myself of either my model I or model II. The model 566 or the Orion II has a beautiful color display and an 8 pin microphone jack that will also work with 8 pin round microphone connections. I only wish they were still in production.Īs for the difference between the model 565 and the model 566 (Orion I & Orion II) the model 565, Orion I, has a grayscale display, a 4 pin microphone connector, and the receivers filter unit is designed a bit differently. They are big and yes could be altered to make a more friendly radio but as they are designed they just work and work in an amazing way. they are just simply amazing radios for their time, way ahead in design and performance. There may be better contesting radios and newer radios that have better spectrum analyzers built-in or waterfall displays but none of them will match the receivers that were designed into the Ten-Tec Orions whether you have the model 565, Orion I or the model 566, Orion II. If you never have tried one you just don't know-how it can diminish band noise and provide easy listening audio for whatever QSO you are in. Yes, there are more, newer, radios but this Old Ten-Tec is able to best them all. One other thing about Ten-Tec is they are simply designed to be superior CW operating radios and the Orion doesn't disappoint in this mode either. Use of the RF gain along with the Digital Noise Reduction provides you almost FM quality audio and such band noise reduction that you won't think about using another radio as your primary go-to radio if you love using it for general rag chew type QSO's. The Orion is also hyper-sensitive while reducing the natural band noise that is almost always there. There was/is a learning curve to learn using the Orion to its strongest and best performance but once you start using the two separate and independent receivers together they totally support and reinforce each other and give you such armchair copy that no other radio can compare. Of all those radios none has the receiver that the Orion I has (and the Orion II which I also have). I've owned so many radios, Kenwoods TS130, TS520s, TS530s, TS440s, and latest a TS890s as well as two ICOM IC7300's and an ICOM IC7100 and IC 7610, a Ten-Tec Omni VII and Flex 6400 as well as six different Yaesu radios: FT101E, FT757GX, FT1000 Mk V field, FTdx3000, FTdx101D, and my latest an FTdx10. Way ahead of it's time! This is one super radio
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