*These days if the temperature compensated reference oscillator fails, Ten
Tec cannot repair it, they will offer to hang an outboard
referenceoscillator on the back of the OMNI 6. To me that sucks. I have no
idea when the 6+ went out of production, but I do know that my 6 option 1
is 20 yrs old (or more). As far as for the Omni 6 opt 1 holding up in a 6A
multi-multi field day deployment, it is a dependable war horse that I can
rely upon. I am sold on the INRAD roofing filter mod. Quit frankly, if I
had the KXPA100 100W amplifier to compliment my KX3, I would move my Omni 6
opt 1 down the road in a heart beat. Side by Side there is a noticeable
difference in favor of the KX3. N3UT recommended taking a look at the
numbers of the OMNI 6 on theSherwood Engineering web site. The numbers for
the KX3 are listed there too.*
*VR, KO7i*
The ovenized 20 MHz crystal shouldn't be a big deal. TenTec is supplying a
common DIP packaged 20 MHz TXCO that is good for 2 ppm stability and runs
on the 5 volt Vcc bus. I installed one of their TXCO boards next to the
CPU board in my Omni VI plus--it is tiny. Interfacing requires hooking one
coax jumper and a lead to Vcc, and removing a resistor. Unfortunately, the
last quoted price as of a month or so back was $150.00! I was able to
find one unused for about 1/2 of that price.
But.... 5 Volt TTL level TXCO DIP modules for 20.000 MHz often show up on
eBay for dirt cheap prices. I bought several for a few bucks, and did my
own conversion on my Omni VI, which was drifting badly. Someone could
come up with a good replacement for a lot less than the current factory
pricing. The TTL 20 Mhz goes to the CLK pin on the CPU. and also drives the
7474 flip/flop for the 10 MHz clock.
A deal breaker would be losing one of the eproms! You'd have to find
someone who could burn a good copy for you, and the revision levels for
both proms would have to match!
Pete
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