[TenTec] Scout problems

[robert k stephens]

Thanks everyone

In order to save bandwidth I'll try to respond to everyone with one message.

I don' think it would be the voltage regulator . I assume the factory would
have spotted that when it was on their bench.(thanks)

I have Radio Shack ferrite assemblies on my microphone(s) cords and on the
coax into the rig. I have also looped the coax into an air core coil choke.
This didn't help. I didn't think to put a ferite choke on the power cord.
I'll give that a try.

I have 3 factory power cords that I use interchangably. I'll try to pay
attention to which one I'm using to see if the cords make a difference.

I don't have problems with all the bands all the time. This suggests a
ground problem-sometimes in a given setup the ground might be good for one
band and not another.  However, could it not also be caused by an
intermittent problem in the plug in modules ?  Sometimes I can fix the
problem by reinserting the module - sometimes that works and sometimes it
doesn't. 

I operate under many different conditions. Sometimes I'm inside/sometimes
outside, sometimes 2 batteries in parallel sometimes car battery with
engine running sometimes a power supply. For ground I have used cold water
pipes, copper rods, metal fences and counterpoises. I have tried 3
different mics. I have experienced fewer problems when the dipole is up
high, free and clear with a well regulated power supply and short wide
ground strap to good ground but I want to emphasize that I have also had
problems under what I consider to be near perfect conditions.

The "guest" operator position at my club is what I consider to be near
perfect. The tri band beam is up 45 feet, fed by quality coax. The ground
strap is 1 inch wide in the shack and  it connects to buried 8 ft rods. The
power supply is an Astron (30 amp ?) The configuration I used bypassed the
tuner and went directly to the beam. SWR was under 1.5 to 1 

Under this condition the frequency varied widely and wildly during
transmit. I know from past experience that this means that my audio was
extremely distorted and difficult to impossible to understand. The Kenwoods
hooked up to the same situation worked fine and I did a little casual
contesting breaking pileups and being heard the first time with ease. It's
hard for me to not believe that something on the Scout is broken (either
broken in the rig itself or a fault in the plug in modules). Why would the
Scout be unusable in the same base station situation that the club's
Kenwood performs well in ? In case I haven't said this before I used to
have better results with the rig when I first got it than now. I'd like to
save my money and keep the Scout. 

Can anyone think of a variable in the triband/tower/8 ft rods/ Astron power
supply set up that would cause a Scout's transmit frequency to jump around
widely and wildly ?

tnx
Bob KB1CIW