Denny,
My Titan III is just over two months old. Two weeks ago, the line fuses blew
as soon as I switched from Standby to Operate. I sent it back for repair
(praying that those clowns at UPS didn't make things worst). It was repaired
and is on its way back as I type this note. I'm keeping my fingers crossed
that nothing happens to it during shipping. Because of the horror stories
I've heard from others, including yourself, about shipping damages, I cringe
whenever I have to ship equipment via UPS. I wonder if Fed Ex is any better?
In any case, the problem with my Titan, according to the tech that did the
repair, was that the plate choke started arching to the chassis when HV was
applied, which naturally caused the line fuses to blow! Apparently, the
plate choke is mounted VERY close to the chassis! He applied shrink tubing
to the tab, on the choke, which was arching, and said that this should
remedy the problem. He also said that one of the tubes was jarred loose from
its socket and that I should double check them when I get the amp back, and
install the transformer. Those UPS idiots must have flipped the box upside
down and dropped it to cause a tube to jar loose.
I'm supposed to receive the amp and transformer, Tuesday. After what the
tech at Ten Tec told me about one of the tubes, and reading about the damage
your transformer received, thanks to UPS, I'm almost afraid to open the
boxes when they get here!
I'll get a better idea of the "modification" the tech preformed to the plate
choke when I install the transformer. I seem to recall hearing about a plate
choke arching problem from another ham I had a QSO with a few months ago,
but I can't remember if it was with a Centurion or a Titan. In the future,
if your Titan suddenly starts blowing line fuses, I would first look for any
signs of arching on the plate choke BEFORE I sent it back to Ten Tec via the
UPS torture test!
Charlie - N5BLY
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Dennis OConnor
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 8:01 AM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: [TenTec] Titan III
UPS has a way of jarring those things lose.
Charlie - N5BLY
Yup, good point Charlie... Tubes were OK... What was not was the HV
transformer... UPS had managed to crush the box, break the plywood shipping
base, and bend the steel mounting foot on one side... To do that would
require that it be dropped, or thrown, from chest high onto concrete...
I did call TT and talk to the tech who built my amp... He said after he
aligns the mechanics and electronics, all final adjustments are made by
UPS...
OTOH, our UPS driver saw the load was from Ten Tec <he recognizes my toys>
and adjusted his route so he could deliver it to me before I leave the
office instead of late afternoon... Hard to complain when you are treated
that way...
denny / k8do
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|