Gee Larry...95% operator failure...hummm... that seems a bit extreme to me.
Should a ham expect to have to put a "mobile rig" in an temperature
controlled, stable environment with exact voltage to have good results..?? I
agree that the scout is a fine rig...but its certainly not without problems.
I think you took the discussion to the far left extreme. The true lies
somewhere in the middle.
de Tim K0FL
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Kayser <kayser@king.igs.net>
To: tentec@contesting.com <tentec@contesting.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Monday, November 01, 1999 9:59 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Scout frequency jumping, Enough!
>
>Greetings All:
>
>This memo is to those who persist in trying to make a problem out of the
>Scout's occasional propensity to change frequency under program control of
>the internal microprocessor. The microprocessor has the job of stabilising
>the analogue VFO in this radio.
>
>In the last few weeks several amateurs have opinioned on this forum and
>other forums that the Scout is getting a bad rap, the so called "frequency
>jumping" is not a real problem. My intention in this memo is to carry this
>issue one step further, to categorise the blame for the problem into two
>piles. The first pile is the tiny minority of radios that actually have a
>problem and need to be sent to the factory for service. (see the PS below)
>The second pile, and the vast majority of all the discussion here on this
>forum and in other forms is the result of using the radio in a way that is
>less than optimum and results in the radio responding by jumping around.
>
>I have a Scout. I use it both mobile, fixed, and portable. When someone
>says it is jumping around I know immediately that I am doing something
>wrong. I know that I have RF feedback or I have a power supply with a
>higher than acceptable internal resistance or I have a power cable that has
>higher than acceptable internal resistance. I can also tell that when I
>operate the radio in a physically challenging condition, bouncing around on
>the front seat, or in a temperature challenging environment, -25C in the
>winter and the heater on full blast, that I am asking more of the radio
that
>I have a right to. I also know that if the Radio is jumping around I have
>done something wrong, I have a job to do to fix it, and when I have it
fixed
>I will not have a jumping around problem anymore.
>
>On this forum in the last three years I have found over a dozen different
>references to frequency jumping that was resolved by fixing a problem
>outside of the radio.
>
>If you have a frequency jumping problem remember that it is a 95% chance
>that you are doing something wrong and further that you are broadcasting
far
>and wide that you do not know how to solve your problem! The radio for 95%
>of the time is telling you that there is a problem that needs fixing, only
>approximately 5% of the time is the radio the problem maybe.
>
>Now lets talk about the one place were the radio has a design issue that
can
>not be overcome without some consideration by the operator. If you are
>operating CW at and over 30 WPM you must supply a .5 to 1 second time
>interval from time to time for the microprocessor to get a reading of the
>VFO frequency and apply the correction to the VFO. The VFO is doing what
>all analogue VFO's do, it is wandering along moving its frequency at some
>rate per unit of time. The microprocessor needs to measure the VFO
>frequency, check what frequency the VFO was last moved to and then apply a
>correction voltage to the VFO so that the frequency does not jump to the
>next increment of change for the VFO. What is the "time to time interval"?
>I sense for a Scout operating in a non physically and non temperature
>challenging environment it is every 20 to 30 seconds at a minimum.
>
>If you do not want to allow for the 1 second update interval buy a
different
>radio. You will not get a radio with the low internal noise and the price
>of the Scout that will meet such a requirement. The lower price is the way
>that Ten Tec found to not have to individually tune up the VFO's with
>temperature compensating capacitors like they do for their other analogue
>PTO's.
>
>Remember, when you complain about the Scout jumping around your really
>displaying your inability to deal with your problem - you might not like
the
>message, but you now know plainly what your peers think when they see the
>ongoing noise about this radio, 95% of the time.
>
>Larry
>VA3LK
>
>PS How does one know if a Scout VFO needs service? This is an area that
>the factory could have put more attention to in my opinion. The
information
>you need is at what rate is the VFO drifting and how often is the
>microprocessor having to apply a correction to the radio to keep it on the
>frequency it is set to. It would be ideal to have some indication from the
>radio as to what the rate of change of the VFO and the corrections applied
>by the mircroprocessor are. This would help the user understand the
>performance of the radio and become part of the solution rather than a lack
>of information encouraging the user to become part of a perceived problem.
>This is a design philosophy issue that Ten Tec should not be expected to
>discuss in public.
>
>
>--
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>
--
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