[TenTec] Titan 425 insight needed

[Kelly Jones]

Hello  group,

I recently picked up a Titan 425 and am looking for some insight.

One of the first things that I noticed is that the input SWR is over 2:1 on 
both 20 and 40m.  It is near flat on 15.  I have not tried 80 or 10 yet, 
nor the WARC bands.  Looking at the schematic, I didn't noticed where or 
*if* the Titan uses a tuned input for each band.  I'm new to Tentec amps, 
so I'm trying to learn the layout of the Titan.  I've always had Henry amps 
and they all had big ole slugs you could tune for each band.  Is there a 
way on the Titan to tune the input for each band?  If so, where are the 
things located?

I know this has been beaten to death, but is there a way to quiet the 
fan?  While it's not much louder than what I'm used to (Henry fans are 
loud), the Titan fan must be slightly out of balance as it does vibrate the 
desk a little.  I find the vibration more annoying than the noise 
itself.  I have cleaned the fan so most of the dust buildup is gone, but 
that didn't seem to help much.  I also noticed that it looks like someone 
had put a rubber "cushion" under the bottom of the fan, I'm assuming to 
help reduce the vibration.  I've read there are no replacements for the 
fan, so I guess I'm looking for suggestions to quiet it down, unless an 
after market type has been made available.

Would it be wise to replace the transformer with a Peter Dahl?  I notice 
the transformer hums a little in idle and *really* hums under full 
load.  While the hum isn't too annoying since the PS sits under the desk 
out of the way, I just hate to be in the middle of a contest and have it go 
belly up.  I'm also a little concerned about the filter caps in the 
PS.  It's hard to tell, but it looks like the caps have a late 1984 
datestamp on them.  Was the Titan amp being made that early?  If these caps 
are indeed nearly 20 yrs old, I guess I should think about replacing them also.

The one good thing is that the amp had been back to Tentec before I 
purchased it for the 160 drift mod.  So at least that problem is taken care of.

Thanks for any advice/insight/suggestions.  Compared to my Henrys (which 
have all been sold), this Titan is such a little thing.  I keep thinking 
I'm gonna break it.  But so far, so good!

73
Kelly - KE9KD
http://www.dxcentral.com