[TenTec] Help on Operation of Corsair II

[James C. Owen, III]

> 1. In my manual I am told, that the meter switch reads S units
> in all positions when in receive except in the IC position.
> On my radio when I switch meter to process it reads S units
> but, when I turn on the processor and advance it the meter
> advances up-scale as I turn up the processor control.
> Is that normal?

This is normal to an extent. In the processor postion the s-meter
and processor work in parallel on receive. That is, if on receive
you advance processor and talk into the mike the meter will
deflect up scale. It sounds as if you might have a lot of noise
in the shack and the mike is picking this up on receive.  This is
not really a problem unless you like to watch the processor
indication all the time when transmitting.


> 2. I have the cw filter installed in Xtal switch position 3.
> If I turn to cw transmit on the mode switch an s meter signal
> of s9 will drop to about s2 and I have to turn AF all the way
> up to hear the cw note.
> If I switch to Xtal position 2 signal comes back up to about an
> s6. If I go to Xtal position 3 I am back to s9.
> Does the cw filter cause that much of an attenuation due to it
> being so narrow?
> Is that the way it should be?

It depends what filters you have installed. There are three slots
for filters on the board but really four filters. On SSB, filter
postion one uses the standard fixed filter (2.4Khz I think) that
is not in the plug in slots. Position 2 uses the first slot and
is usually the 1.8 Khz, position 3 uses the second slot which is
the 500 Hz filter and the third filter usually the 250 hz in the
thrid slot is not useable on SSB.  Going to CW, Position 1 is the
first slot (1.8 Khz), position 2 is  the second slot (500 hz)
position 3 is the third slot (250 Hz).  The first slot when a
filter is NOT installed has a jumper cable between in and out (
or is it a resistor?). It sounds like you don't have a filter
(1.8 Khz) installed in the first slot and the jumper is missing.
How many filters do you have installed? Normally if you don't
have a 250 hz in the third slot when you switch to position 3 you
lose the signal because this slot doesn't have a jumper from the
factory and I don't think that slot 2 has a jumper either.

> 3. I have yet to get the ALC LED to light even when I advance
> the drive control all the way.
> The LED works I know that.
> And, I know I am putting out 100 watts cause I see it on my
> outboard meter.
> The manual says I should advance the drive control and stop
> when the ALC LED glows.

Have you tried it on a dummy load. If the antenna is not a 1:1 or
close and is on the high impedance side (100 ohms or greater) you
will likely never get the LED to light. The proper setting is,
with a 50 ohm load as you get to about 95-100W the led should
start to light, at 100-105W it should be full brightness. There
are adjustments for this and it's easy to set if you have a dummy
load and accurate wattmeter. You need to know that your outboard
meter is reading correctly.


> 4. I have never seen an s meter as sensitive as the one on this
> radio I read s6 and s7 all the time on 75 meters with just
> background noise. Are all Corsair meters like that?

There is a lot of background band noise on 75M. I usually have an
S6-S7 reading on 75M most of the time, it drops as you go higher
in bands due to less noise. Turn off the RF pre-amp or turn down
the RF gain as you don't need as much on 75M. In fact if you set
the RF-amp/RF gain to read S0 on background noise that's all the
gain you need, more won't give you anything else except a
headache from  band noise. Also the AGC won't give as much POP
with the gain turned back.

> I am new to this radio and I thank you all for any information
> you can give me.

The Corsair II is an excellent transceiver and I know you'll
enjoy it as much as I have mine. I now use my Jupitor most of the
time and I guess I really should sell the Corsair II and let
someone you can use it get enjoyment from it. That for a later
time though.

73 Jim K4CGY

>

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