This is fully in line with one of my favorite sayings in German which, roughly
translated, goes something like this:
"THERE ARE THINGS WHICH DON'T EXIST."
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ira Franklin
via TenTec
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2016 2:39 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Cc: Ira Franklin
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni VI instability, TCXO worth it?
GM Rick, I will admit I had same doubt about stuffing it with cotton but
thought what the heck not try it. Took about 20 minutes start to finish. It did
and still does work on the 746pro stable as a rock. Go figure. 73 Ira
K4YMQAlabama
From: "rick@dj0ip.de" <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
To: 'Ira Franklin' <k4ymq@yahoo.com>; 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
<tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni VI instability, TCXO worth it?
That sounds like an April Fool's joke, Ira.
How on earth might that help?
Seems it would only result in things getting even hotter.
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ira Franklin
via TenTec
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 9:11 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Cc: Ira Franklin
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni VI instability, TCXO worth it?
I own a TT Omni 6 opt never had that problem nor have I opened the case, What
am getting at is that I also own a IC746 pro that developed a problem similar
to yours on the TT I was advised to stuff the metal can that has osc fightly
full of cotton and carefully I did that about 4 years ago and never had another
problem. Don't know if this will help on TT or not. Ira K4YMQ
From: "rick@dj0ip.de" <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment' <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 1:28 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni VI instability, TCXO worth it?
Peter,
I personally would not do it.
If you can find a used one for $50 or less, then perhaps.
Hopefully someone here will have a few tips to enable you to keep using it as
is.
The TCXO was a nice but at this late stage, investing another $200 in a radio
that old is probably not a wise idea.
If you can't fix it, perhaps it is time to buy another radio.
The $200 is a good start towards that.
If you can sell it "as is", fine but otherwise you can part it out and sell it
on ebay.
I doubt a good option 1 will bring more than $500 these days and since it is
not working properly, it won't bring that.
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Peter Klein
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 2:14 AM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] Omni VI instability, TCXO worth it?
I queried service@tentec.com by email about the following issue last Tuesday. I
have heard nothing so far, so I thought I'd get some advice here.
Background: I live in the Seattle area. I have modest wire and vertical
antennas. I'm not a contester or hard-core competitive DXer. I do try to work
DX when I can, and I might jump into a contest to snag a new country.
But mostly I do HF digital (PSK, Olivia, MFSK), casual CW, or occasionally SSB.
I've owned my Omni VI for 20 years. It has the Option 1 DSP upgrade.
Over the years, the radio has several times developed a frequency instability
issue. Over a time ranging between less than a second to a few seconds, the
transceiver moves a few 10s of Hz off frequency, then "snaps"
back. It's mostly done this on 30m, occasionally on 20m, and now on 40m.
Lately, it happens on 40m, with a short "period," so if I am listening to a
good, pure CW signal, it sounds like it has old-fashioned "chirp."
The frequency shift occurs on both transmit and receive. When it happens, if I
switch to another band, it does not happen there. It is intermittent.
Sometimes it appears random, and sometimes appears temperature-related (for
example after transmitting for a while, or if the radio has been just turned on
in the last half-hour or so).
When it first happened (1997), Ten Tec Service advised me to tweak the trimmer
coil to the 30m mixer crystal 1/8 to 1/4 turn in either direction until the
"drift and snap" stopped, and just live with the slight display error. I did,
and later did the same thing to the 40m coil when that band acted up. It worked
in both cases.
When it started to do the frequency dance on 20m, I sent back to the factory
for a tune-up. This was in October 2013. Now, it's doing it again on 40m.
I spoke to TenTec's service manager a few months ago. He said that the problem
might be solved by installing a temperature compensated crystal oscillator (the
TCXO was never suggested before). He said that I could install this myself if
I could solder a couple of wires. He quoted me a price of $200 to send me the
necessary circuit board and instructions.
He said it was up to me whether I wanted to spend $200 on "an older radio."
He was also dead-set against my tweaking the trimmer coils to the individual
band crystals.
I decided to wait and see if leaving the power supply on 24/7 would solve the
issue. Nope. And while I was waiting, Ten-Tec was sold and has new service
policies.
I would like to install the TCXO, *IF* it is very likely that it will solve the
problem, and I can get at least another couple of years of good service out of
the radio. On the other hand, the radio is 20 years old. So if it's just as
likely that I will continue to have the problem, then maybe the TCXO isn't
worth it, and I should think about a new radio.
So, what would you do if you were me?
Thanks and 73,
--Peter, KD7MW
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