I used to have this problem when I drove my 87A with a TS950SDX. It's caused
by a power spike from the 950. W8JI told me that he had measured leading
edge spikes from the 950 as high as 250W. The reason you are getting fault
17 (abnormally high or low gain due to possible mismatch or arc) is that the
87A firmware checks for abnormal gain before it checks for the overdrive
condition (fault 13.) In other words, the misleading fault number is a minor
bug in the firmware. I confirmed this with the factory. Dick Ehrhorn told me
that he had the same problem and confirmed the fault code anomaly with the
Alpha techs. I think Dick was using a 950 also, but I'm not sure.
I have since replaced the 950 with a Yaesu FT-1000MP, followed by a Yaesu
FT-1000D, followed by a Ten Tec Orion. I have not seen a fault 17 since
getting rid of the 950.
73, Dick WC1M
> -----Original Message-----
> From: W0UN -- John Brosnahan [mailto:shr@swtexas.net]
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 6:11 AM
> To: Andy Forsberg; amps@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Amps] Alpha 87A troubles with fault 17
>
>
> Don't do emails when trying to sort out amp problems--it
> takes too long to get to the heart of the matter. It is much
> better to call the manufacturer. A two-way dialog usually
> discloses some sort of issue that would NEVER get mentioned
> in a two-way series of email exchanges. From my personal
> experiences on both ends of trouble-shooting, a phone call is
> 1000% better to get to the solution quickly.
>
> --John W0UN
>
>
> At 08:48 AM 1/21/2004, Andy Forsberg wrote:
>
> >Hi All,
> >
> >I have a TS 950 and TS 2000 driving a New Alpha 87A. I am
> continually
> >getting fault code 17 in SSB while talking which puts the amp into
> >standby mode. The amp is tuned properly either using
> default, manual,
> >or AlphaMax. Nothing seems to help. Alpha factory will not
> return my
> >e-mails so I have know idea how to get these radios to drive
> the Alpha.
> >When I took the amp out of the box at turn on I got a hard
> fault 24 and
> >the amp would not come on line. After two power ups I finally got a
> >green board. The first time I applied 20 watts drive power
> it faulted.
> >That cleared I was finally able to get the amp to full power and
> >sic.... operational. The fault code 17 (extreme miss-match) started
> >right away and have not stopped. I can not get through a
> transmission
> >without a fault 17 occurring.
> >
> >I understand that Icomm 781's had this problem also? Are these ALC
> >overshoots? Can they be prevented? Is this a problem with Alpha or
> >Kenwood? Either way the amp is useless as long as it keeps faulting.
> >
> >Thanks for any help the group can offer,
> >
> >73 Andy WW7A
> >
> >Latitude N 47.35 degs
> >Longitude W 122.95 degs
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Amps@contesting.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
> >
> >
> >
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