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[TenTec] Fixes for the 555 Scout.

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] Fixes for the 555 Scout.
From: cathedu@ruralnet.net.au (Catholic Education Office.)
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 16:44:58 GMT
Has anyone come up with any fixes for many of the Scout's common problems?

1)Removing the very prominent hiss on the receiver. An RF gain problem? Is
there an RF gain mod...or a component change which can be made? (On the band
modules above 30mx...it actually interferes with the resulting audio being
received.
Surely the TT boys in the tech department have a fix for this.)

2)Getting rid of the internally generated "birdies" and heterodynes? (It's
such a shame to have avoidance zones in a receiver.)

3)Maintaining keyer speed, to the last setting when the rig has been turned off.

4) Ridding the receiver of that darn cpu whine? Resistor padding is
fine...but still doesn't totally eliminate it.

5)Improving the pto module.......so that every time you touch the cabinet
the frequency doesn't change?


A few comments which may help others,

i) I found the PTO mechanism, stiff and hard to use, so i changed the knob
to an old Yaesu type, with the small perpendicular handle on it. The knob
itself is a little too large, and makes some of the switches underneath, a
bit of a problem, to access with large fingers, but tuning is a breeze.

2) I always place a pi coupler (tuner) in line with the output/ input  of
the rig... it helps eliminate all the images which pop up over the bands....
here 17mx and 80 mx seem the worst...80 is unusable with out it...image
broadcast stations are all over the band...and on 17mx, short wave stations
can be heard.... the coupler offers harmonic attenuation, which assists with
the above.

3) I placed a kit built speech processor in line with the audio, it made
good audio brilliant... and punchy to boot.... it is a switchable device
which allows normal mic operation. (The processor was straight out of an old
arrl handbook.)

Love to hear from anyone with suggestions.....the scout has been around for
a while now,.... surely some well informed technical people out there, have
come up with brilliant solutions?

I noted many scouts being sold......and honestly I can understand why as
they just don't stack up to the reviews we read. 

For a while there, I thought the problems were particular to this rig...but
then had a lengthy qso with an english station....he had precisely the same
sort of problems, with his scout. There are many of us out there..patiently
waiting for some fixes. Maybe Scott can round up some of his people to
comment....it certainly would be a great help.

Please don't hesitate to contact me directly if you wish to do so.

73,

Maurie."moz". VK3CWB.


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