Good stuff, Joe....thanks for posting.
John W4II
----- Original Message -----
From: <K8mp@aol.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: <w8sjv@nexgenaccess.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:58 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Omni 6 Plus--Epilogue
> Radio Dudes:
>
> I figured I'd give you a final (I hope) synopsis on the PLL/Synthesizer
> problems I dealt with recently. The info may come in handy for someone,
> some
> day. By the way, thanks to those who steered me towards the PLL board.
> Otherwise, my radio might still be broken. (or in Sevierville)
>
> Symptoms:
> The display reads correctly. It even changes when you turn the VFO.
> However, the received freq doesn't change. How did I know that? When I
> changed
> bands to 160, I could hear an AM broadcast station. Turning the VFO
> didn't
> change what I was hearing.
>
> Fixing it:
> It was suggested that I check the 5 to 5.5 Mhz output from the PLL. I
> didn't have a freq counter, so I used a Tektronix 456B, which is a 200 Mhz
> scope. The output showed as 5.8 Mhz and it did not change when cranking
> the VFO
> or hitting the up/down buttons. The 2 inputs to the board (10 Mhz clock
> and serial freq data) appeared to be good, so I was pretty sure I was on
> the right track.
> NOTE: The output also had what seemed like a low voltage level (1 volt
> p/p). I called Ten Tec about the sig level, but they didn't know what it
> should
> be. (More on that later)
>
> Another Ham who had PLL board problems strongly suggested that I re-heat
> suspect connections on the board. I did this (in fact, I hit every
> connection on the board) and the radio worked for 2 days. While it was in
> the
> working state, I scoped the PLL output and saw it change with the up/down
> buttons. The voltage level was 1 volt p/p in the working state, so I now
> knew that
> was correct.
>
> For the next few days, the radio would work then not work. I tried to
> "make
> it fail" with heat and cold, but those didn't seem to make a difference.
> During this process, I made a few notes and drawings of various waveforms
> and levels around the board. Unfortunately, 3 weeks have passed and some
> of
> those notes don't make any sense to me now. Here are the ones that do:
>
> 1) At the junction labeled "Test point" (duh...go figure) on the PLL
> schematic:
> When working, and the rig set to 40 meters, it had a 100 mv sine wave
> riding on a 325 mv DC level. (I forgot to record the freq). When
> failing, it
> was nearly at ground potential (less than 15 mv), with no sine wave.
>
> 2) At U4, pin 5, with the rig working, I saw 775 mv when on 40 meters. I
> didn't record it in a failed state.
>
> 3) At R11 and R12, with the rig working: You should see a 5 volt level,
> with negative-going spikes to ground, every 100 usec.
>
> 4) U5, pin 6, with the rig working: 133 Mhz signal. I can't remember if it
> was square or sine.
>
> 5) U4, pin 7, with the rig working: 2 v DC
>
> 6) U4, pin 1, with the rig working: 3.5 v DC
>
> "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good"
>
> While beating on components to try make it work, I noticed that a slight
> tap on L12 could make the rig fail or work. I re-heated the connections
> to
> L12, (including L12's case to ground on top of the board) and the radio
> has
> been fine since. That was over 2 weeks ago. I even got brave enough to
> put
> it all back together several days ago and it's still working. Hopefully,
> it's been put to bed.
>
> Later, Joe
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
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