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Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue
From: "Bob McGraw - K4TAX" <RMcGraw@Blomand.net>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 07:25:18 -0500
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
Would seem that a trip to Sevierville might be in order.

73
Bob, K4TAX

----- Original Message ----- From: "art N4UC" <n4uc@hotmail.com>
To: "TenTec reflector" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue


I de-mated, cleaned, and re-seated all connectors, both the TMP coax as well as board connectors to the backplane. No joy, situation unchanged. Then I resorted to the old fashioned push and jiggle test on all the boards and connections. Again no luck.

For what it's worth I uploaded a crude video to youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=287q99crPjY&feature=em-upload_owner) showing the problem in real life. The video begins with a cw signal being received by the SUB receiver and then I bring up the audio of the same signal on the MAIN Rcvr. Keep in mind this is happening on 20M only.

Any comments or thoughts are welcomed. In the meantime, I brought the old TS-940 down off the shelf. I'd forgotten how heavy those old radios were!

73, Art

From: Rick@DJ0IP.de
To: tentec@contesting.com
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 12:26:10 +0100
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

The original "pre-production" Eagles did not have gold contacts either.
Carl, you probably had one of these, as did Bob and I.
I later sent mine back to the factory and had the motherboard swapped, so
now I have gold contacts too.

ALL PRODUCTION UNITS HAD GOLD CONTACTS, so if you bought an Eagle, don't
worry!  Yours has gold contacts.

I doubt we will ever see any non-gold contacts again from these two
companies.

73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)


-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Carl
Moreschi
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:42 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

Elecraft had the same problem with the K3. But they now do a free upgrade
to gold contacts.

Carl Moreschi N4PY
58 Hogwood Rd
Louisburg, NC 27549
www.n4py.com

On 3/19/2014 8:08 PM, Bob McGraw - K4TAX wrote:
> It's not only related to Tentec products or Orion radios. For years
> I've dealt with service and maintenance on products costing 5X to 10X
> or more of what the Orion's. cost. These products have been found to
> have the same issues. Some interconnection methods are better or worse
> than others. It is a matter of cost vs. space along with a few other
factors.
>
> Just exercise the connectors, clean the pins and apply a very small
> amount of contact cleaner. It will serve you well until next time.
>
> 73
> Bob, K4TAX
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Moreschi"
> <n4py3@earthlink.net>
> To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 3:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue
>
>
>> The Orion and Orion II have shown a history of problems related to
>> corrosion building up on the cable connections in the radio. These
>> connections should have been gold plated but they are not. In
>> particular, the cable connections behind the front panel have over
>> 100 connections. Many times the solution is to remove the front
>> panel, which is not at all difficult, and unplug the cables, spray
>> them with a contact cleaner, and then while they are still wet, plug
>> them in and out 10 times or more to clean them. This fixed all the
>> intermittent problems on my Orion. And with so many connections,
>> almost any symptom is possible.
>>
>> Carl Moreschi N4PY
>> 58 Hogwood Rd
>> Louisburg, NC 27549
>> www.n4py.com
>>
>> On 3/19/2014 3:38 PM, art N4UC wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Here's a brain teaser for all you Orion experts. My 565 running ver
>>> 3.032 has developed a couple of problems that I was hoping would be
>>> a firmware issue but it's looking more and more like a hardware
>>> problem. I'm looking for some ideas about where to start
>>> troubleshooting.
>>>
>>> In a nutshell the two problems (which may just be different symptoms
>>> of one problem) are these:
>>>
>>> 1. All signals received by the main rcvr on 20M only are extremely
>>> garbled and distorted. This condition is not dependent on mode and
>>> all other receiver functions such as S-meter operation, AGC, BW and
>>> PBT functions seem to be unaffected. Operation of the sub-receiver
>>> is normal. One interesting note is that a signal disappears when I
>>> engage the hardware NB, which is probably just an indicator that the
>>> NB thinks it's seeing noise and just doing its job.
>>>
>>> 2. When both VFO's display the same frequency, there is a difference
>>> in received frequency between the two receivers. This is present
>>> regardless of band, but the difference is not the same from band to
>>> band. The worst I've noticed is 200 hz offset on 20M, but other
>>> bands exhibit 50-100 hz delta between the receivers in spite of
>>> displaying the same frequencies. It doesn't matter how the two
>>> receivers arrive at the same frequency, either by pressing the A>B
>>> button or configuring both Main and Sub recvrs to be controlled by
VFO-A.
>>>
>>>
>>> This all came on as an intermittent condition. I would notice that
>>> during operation on 20M, received signals would suddenly jump by
>>> 100-200 hz and I would have to re-tune to get back on frequency. I
>>> was assuming that the transmitted frequency was jumping as well, but
>>> I haven't verified that as yet. Anyway, after the "jump" occurred,
>>> the signals would sound warbly and quivery (technical terms for
>>> "trashy"). No matter their signal strength they sounded watery like
>>> they were coming from over the North Pole. If I were to select a
>>> different band and then return , the receiver would "slide" a few
>>> hertz back onto frequency before settling.
>>>
>>> I have
>>> sometimes noticed that just before this would happen there would be
>>> a rise in noise level, like precipitation static. While the rcvr is
>>> off-frequency, there is a lot of noise/hash that is in sync with
>>> other signals some as far away as 50 khz. It resembles being at
>>> field day in close proximity to several transmitters. Even though
>>> they are way out of the bandpass of the filters and too far away to
>>> hear a cw tone, I can copy them by listening to the hash.
>>>
>>> I have re-flashed the firmware and performed a few master-resets,
>>> etc... with no change. The problem is no longer intermittent and I'm
>>> looking for ideas while I decide how much $$$ I want to put into
>>> repairing a really fine, but old, radio.
>>>
>>> 73, Art/N4UC
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> TenTec mailing list
>>> TenTec@contesting.com
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>>>
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