[TenTec] Delta 580 repairs

[Winston F. Jones]

I recently fixed up a Delta 580 and thought other Delta owners might be
interested in my experiences.

I bought the Delta 580 about two years ago. At the time, it sometimes showed
weak sensitivity on receive and had non-standard crystals in the17- and
12-meter positions. It worked on these WARC bands but the dial reading was
about 20 KHz too high.

After prodding around, I found that the receiver sensitivity would suddenly
improve when I pushed on the phono jack labeled "Receive Antenna" at the
right rear of the radio.I first suspected a loose connection or a bad swi
tch (located just above the jack). Neither proved to be the case. I found
that the phono jack had somehow broken on the inside and the center
conductor was making contact with ground. When I pushed on it, this would
break the contact and the signal would suddenly get much louder.

My first inclination was to replace the phono jack, but it would require
drilling out the old rivets since screws were not used. I decided it would
be easier to find a way to put new insulation between the touching
conductors. I forced a plastic shirt collar stay down into the jack and it
separated the touching pieces of metal. I simply cut off the overhang on the
plastic and the problem was cured.

For crystal replacement, I contacted International Crystal, gave them specs
and faxed a copy of the Delta 580 crystal oscillator circuit. It takes them
about two weeks to make the crystals. They cost $ 13 each, about half the
cost of purchasing the crystals from the Ten-Tec factory. International has
a web order page, if other T-T owners are interested in replacement crystals
for their radios.

I hope this may be of help to other Ten-Tec owners.

73, Winston K4CWQ

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