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Re: [TenTec] Help needed with Paragon II alignment

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Help needed with Paragon II alignment
From: "Mark Kenward" <k8vf_mark@centurytel.net>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:56:49 -0400
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
Hi again, Bob. Yes I did my settings while at 14 mHz and that's where I had the 
rig from the start.
Set it up just as you did, had it on an hour or more, and lid on, replaced 
after any adjustment.
Well, I am within 30 hz on each end,(high at one end and low at the other) and 
closer in the middle so I will call it ok.

On the BFO's, as I said, if I did them in order, I couldn't get close on the  
cwT adjustments. (close to 1000Hz)Other than the FSK bfos being set off 
intentionally because I had to, all else was as you said.
Ref oscillator was easy enough to get to, I slid the shield off to the side, 
pulled a couple Mass connectors to get at a test point, and cap is bottomed 
out, or topped out-rocking it back and forth to get it right on and that is it.

Thanks for all your advice and friendly assistance in the past.

Sounds like I can button it up.

Best regards,


Mark Kenward
K8VF



I've repaired and aligned several of the Paragon and Paragon II radios. This 
includes the ones I owned personally.
I always strived to set the BFO oscillators to be "dead nuts on" with an 
accuracy of 1 Hz or better. There is some interaction between the adjustments 
and I've found that going over the alignment for these some 3 or 4 times was 
found to be necessary. Since these "rocks" are not highly temperature 
compensated some warm uptime is required and even then they willvary with 
temperature. Specially true if running a high demand mode such as RTTY that 
heats the inside of the case. My counter will capture the low and high values 
over a period of time. I usually allow the radio to warm up in receive with the 
cover on, make adjustments, lay the cover back on and then allow it to warm 
again. Frankly I'm not sure how prudent this method turns out to be. But I did 
spend several hours analyzing the drift of the oscillators over time and over a 
temperature range.
The master osc is quite stable and is easy to adjust and it generally stays put.
In general I felt that if I could get all bands to be less than +/- 50 Hz that 
I had a good alignment job. What you find is about typical of my notes. If you 
get it correct on 160M then it will be off by 2x that amount on 10M. If you get 
it correct on 10 MHz then the error will be about as you find, or about 30 Hz 
or less, depending on band. The further one gets away from the 10 MHz reference 
the worse it gets either up or down.
The manual that I have states: "Frequency accuracy: +/- 50 Hz @ 25 degrees C." 
From this info looks like your results are quite good.

73
Bob, K4TAX


----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Kenward" <k8vf_mark@centurytel.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 6:59 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Help needed with Paragon II alignment


Greetings.

I recently got a Paragon II and it was out of adjustment. (Formerly belonged to 
Federal Highway Dept?)
I set BFO's as well as possible.

Basically has to set fsk bfo's off a bit to get the LSB/USB/and CW Transmit to 
be on freq. Which they now are. I dont use FSK.
Set reference oscillator frequency.

NOW, the rig works fine on transmit and receive, BUT:


tx/rx are right on freq at 10 mHz.

BELOW 10 mHz I am 10-30 Hz high.

ABOVE 10 mHz I am 10-30 Hz low.

The off set starts at -30 at 160 mtrs, closer as you go up in freq, till 10 
mHz, then drops about 10 cycles more per band as you go up to 10 meters.
Obviously I have something buggered up.

The only other thing I adjusted was to set the PBT, which shouldnt affect this, 
I do not believe.
  The rig is rock solid, and doesn't drift, so I would like to get it spot on.
Can anyone help me here?

Mark
K8VF
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