[TenTec] Hercules II Problem

[Dale L. Martin]

I need some insight as to what happened to our Hercules II
amplifier in our emergency operations center at work the other
day.  One of the two radio operators reported to me (I put the
station together (Paragon/Hercules and a bunch of VHF/UHF stuff)
and am the other operator) that the amplifier was going into
OVERDRIVE state whenver the radio was keyed, no matter what the
power level.  He said he had on arrival at the station found the
bandswitch in the REMOTE position.  I went over and checked it
out.

Cycling the power on the amp would disable the OVERDRIVE LED, but
keydown on any band at minimum (~9 watts) power from the Paragon
would trip the LED on.

I spoke with Ten-Tec Service Dept about it and the recommendation
was that we send them the amp.  The paperwork is in the mill to
get the amp shipped to T-T for service.

In the meantime, I've only had a few minutes with the manual to
be able to try to determine what would cause the LED to come on.
T-T offered it might be a relay problem or it might be a blown
final.

Anyone have any experience with something like this?

What I suspect is that during our annual Open House to the public
(est.: 100k+ visitors), hams at the station talking to the public
about the EOC station also operated the equipment (none but the
other operator and myself are checked out on the equipment....at
least, to my satisfaction and comfort level).  Somethng may have
happened because the bandswitch may have been in the  REMOTE
position when the operator transmitted, causing a fault to occur.
There is no remote cable between the Paragon and the Hercules.

Comments?  Insight?

Thanks in advance.

73,
Dale Martin, KG5U
kg5u@hal-pc.org
http://www.hal-pc.org/~kg5u


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