I bought several months ago a well used Triton IV,
with 262M power supply, mic, and 160m convertor. I
fixed a cold solder joint last night, regaining
recieve; but the power output is low. about 13.5W at
9 o'clock on the drive control; which is where the ALC
light also comes on. The rig was well loved in it's
time; maybe someone turned it down for qrp (there are
some ugly hacks inside it--the 100kHz crystal had been
swapped for a 3.somethingMHz crystal at some point!)?
The mode select know is noisy as all get out, and once
in a while the Lock setting won't work--have to rock
the switch a bit.
Question 1: ideas on the low output? I measured the
voltage to the finals, it is about 11.8 or 11.9 no
power out, 10.5 at the max 13W output. The power
supply seems to be sagging a bit also--but there are
no adjustments on that unit--maybe the pass transistor
needs to be replaced?
Question 2: What is this setup worth? I really want
something smaller for the car, maybe a Scout. I can't
afford a Scout, without selling this radio (and some
other junk) first. I know the 160m convertor is rare;
but the radio condition is poor cosmetically, and has
low tx power.
Question 3: I've looked at the reviews for the Scout,
been looking at them for some time, and I'm
curious--was there a fix for the minimum voltage
problem? Like I said, I want a mobile radio, and
operation with the car off would be nice. Seems to me
that all it would need is maybe a regulator change in
the PTO area; but I've never looked at the schematic.
Question 4: How far do the Scout modules tune? The
standard 500kHz, plus/minus 30kHz (eg, 6.97 to
7.53MHz, lets say--I know the 10m module covers more)?
A friend of mine has been pushing to get more of us
in this area to get active in MARS, but my standard
excuse is that I 1) don't have a working HF rig, and
2) it won't tune that far.
Thanks
KB1CKT
Shawn Upton
Pembroke, NH
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