[RTTY] JARTS contest

Thu Oct 24 15:30:43 EDT 2013

Hi Dick and all.

(Maybe it would be better to rename this branch of the tread ...)

As Rex wrote it seems not usual that there would be a multiple failure 
of 3 different aerials - together - in the same place.
I agree with Rex that you must search for whatever could be a Common 
Point of failure in between the 3 different aerials. There should be a 
Single Point of Failure, there is one of those in the 99.99% of the 
world existing things.  Somebody use the acronym SPoF, those consultants 
... ;-(

Now some hot water ... or snake oil, as any of you prefer ...

I would suggest to make a sketch of the whole shack to aerials, all 
items: cables, connection, boxes and ANY_OTHER_ITEMS. (Well out of you I 
mean.)
Make that sketch and search for a common point in between the 3 aerials 
and yours transceiver(s).
Then do some segregation of any components that seems the much easy to 
segregate and to be test with the equipment you have in hands.
Start from the more commons and easy to check and continue to drill down 
until the most expensive item in terms of difficulties to reach and to 
test, also in terms of time to handle it and the price of it, of the 
components, it separately form other items.

Track each changes that you will make on any items (placing it out of 
the schema, placing it into the schema, changing it with a new one, 
changing it with a substitution with another, ...)  by checking the 
whole shack functionality, i.e. ROS on 3 aerial, each time you do 
anything or you could get lost in between ... change to items and newer 
know witch one is faulty if you don't fold back and each one against the 
whole system.

Eventually during the checkout you will find new items that you had not 
drawn in at first: add any single items to the sketch. But take care 
when/if you remake it, for more clarity viewing it, not to forgot 
anything you already placed in the first sketch, checked or not checked, 
... it happens.

You should go trough yours drawing > and check > and writing down any 
results on the same sketch; that's yours troubleshooting map.

By example, as Rex wrote, a piece of coax in between the rig and the PA 
or the wall box is more easy to be tested than a coax switch mounted 
outside ... and maybe over a tower. Do a simplest check before one more 
complicated checks and do it for complete and exhaustive tests, a coax 
cable opened or shortened, a wall mart PS for that coax switch that 
doesn't give any power and so on.
Again, for the PA, the more easy way is to bypass it on cables with a 
coax barrel, not to change the PA in use with another ... do no add new 
items, you must find the fault(s) in the actual set of items. BTW, be 
somewhat compulsive: check the barrel. Yes the one PL to SO junction 
that you need to make an angled barrel you have in the shack could add a 
new problem - even if anything is the simplest anything you have to drop 
in  check also it prior to use it for any substitution - five minutes 
more could save you from a long headache.
Do testing the whole environments section by section, piece by piece, 
and make it signed on the same sketch of yours whole shack & aerial you 
made at the start.
When you have finished to check all, you must have a GO/NOGO on each 
item of the sketch and the precise cognition that everything you have on 
site IS on the sketch. The you you solved it OK. If you didn't solved, 
well there is something you cannot test or something you forget about. 
By this last it would the time for the treasure search. :-)

Hope you could solve it quickly and not so dirty. Be patient. The whole 
procedure, as you may already see, is much more difficult to be written 
and read than to be done.

Hope that my poor English should not make too much dissonances.

               73 de iw1ayd Salvo

PS The next RTTY contest would be the WAE RTTY on 9/10 November, isn't 
it? CU there Dick and all.

 >------------------------------
 >
 >Message: 7
 >Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 22:32:25 -0000
 >From: "Rex Maner" <k7qq at netzero.net>
 >To: <whiter26 at sbcglobal.net>,    "'RTTY, Contesting'"
 >    <rtty at contesting.com>
 >Subject: Re: [RTTY] JARTS contest
 >Message-ID: <01e301ced03f$c0160a30$40421e90$@net>
 >Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"
 >
 >Dick
 > It sounds like your having a coax problem, check the coax from the rig to
 >amp or antenna switch, It could also be the antenna sw.  I can't 
believe all
 >your antenna went bad at the same time.
 >
 >Good Luck
 >
 >Rex K7QQ    \
 >
 >
 > ------------------------------
 >
 > Message: 6
 > Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:56:32 -0500
 > From: "Dick White" <whiter26 at sbcglobal.net>
 > To: "RTTY, Contesting" <rtty at contesting.com>
 > Subject: [RTTY] JARTS contest
 > Message-ID: <000001ced032$5b8a8530$129f8f90$@sbcglobal.net>
 > Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"
 >
 > I missed one of my favorite contests last week end, JARTS. I was set 
up the
 > day before and all worked well. The day of the contest the SwR was full
 > scale  high on all 3 antennas and I was unable to operate. After several
 > hours of checking all components I am still not 100% back to normal, but
 > able to use some bands using a tuner on bands I did not need before. Big
 > mystery as to what happened.
 >
 > Will  try the next RTTY contest.
 >
 > Dick  -  KS0M
 >
 >
 >
 > Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It is the way it is. How you 
deal
 > with it is what counts.
 >
 > Richard C. (Dick) White
 >
 > Fulton, MO. 65251  U.S.A.
 >
 > Amateur Radio Station  KS0M