[TenTec] Cheap Ferrites (was Orion reset)

[A. Sewell]

I ordered a bag of these ferrites too.  When I received them I tested 
them per K0BG's procedure at http://www.k0bg.com/beads.html.  I don't 
know what mix they are but they are definitely not 43 or 31.  With five 
turns thru the bead I get a resistance of ~140 and an inductance of 11 
uH.  If they were 43 they should have a resistance of ~500 and an 
inductance of ~40 uH.

I have tried this procedure on some other ferrite beads I have and I do 
get the mix 43 values so K0BG's procedure does work.

So, it seems questionable how effective these cheap ferrites beads will 
be.  Moral of the story....you get what you pay for!

73,

Alan  N5NA


Robert Carroll wrote:

>Try the ferrites.  I include below a note from the RTTY reflector about a
>cheap source of them.  I just ordered a bag.
>
>Bob W2WG
>**************************************************************************
>From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On
>Behalf Of Mac McDaniel
>Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 5:36 AM
>To: rtty at contesting.com
>Subject: [RTTY] Help with keeping RF out of PC
>
>Peter,
>
>I sent you an e-mail the other day with a link to a web page that would help
>with your RFI.  I was having problems myself at the time that I sent the
>e-mail to you and was looking for a fix myself.  I was doing everything that
>Jim says to do all of his web page at:
>www.radioworks.com I put two Line Isolators, one between the radio and amp,
>and one between the amp and tuner.  I really don't know if they helped me or
>not.  Because, my problem was with my computer locking up or going crazy on
>me on 80, 40 in 160 meters.  It still did it after I put them on.  I had
>ferrite beads on some of my equipment for a longtime and they seemed to help
>but, they were expensive at RadioShack at $4.95 apiece.  Then I bought some
>from radioworks.com at $2 apiece and they seem to help even more.  THEN, I
>found this on eBay:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5743889061&ssPageNam
>e=STRK:MEWA:IT
>
>I got them in the mail a couple of days ago.  They were shipped superfast by
>this guy.  I started clamping them on every cord on the back of my computer,
>monitor, mouse and keyboard.  Two or three of them on every cord there was.
>I had 100 of them and I was on a mission.  I had about 25 ferrite beads on
>my radio's and knew they were working.  I was just tired of paying so much
>for them.  I used about 20 on my computer and still have about 80 left.  I
>was on 80 and 160 this evening playing with the contest.
>I didn't pay much attention to any thing because I was running low-power.
>But, then Easter Island came on and I kicked the amp on.
>About 1200 watts and my computer didn't do a thing.  I was shocked!  No
>lockups!  No windows popping up!  So, I played more.
>As far as I can tell the ferrite beads took care of the problem but, I am
>still in the experimental stage.  I'm going to clip the rest of them one
>everything in the shack.  The wife and kids better run!
>
>Well, it's 4 a.m. in the morning and I'm shot.  I just had to pass this on
>to you.  I thought it was a great deal.  100 ferrite beads for $27.  And
>hopefully no more RFI problems.  But I'm sure that Murphy is still running
>around here somewhere.  I'm going to put a ferrite core around his neck.
>.
>I am in no way affiliated with radioworks.com or the guy that sells these
>beads.  I'm just excited!
>
>Good luck and may we have a RFI free 2005.  hi hi
>
>73, Mac  N0OB
>.  
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
>On Behalf Of John Thompson
>Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 8:48 AM
>To: tentec at contesting.com
>Subject: [TenTec] Orion reset
>
>I have had the Orion for 7 months.  Its receiver is
>very immune to overload and adjacent channel
>inteference.
>My unit seems to mute on receive or transmit, more on
>receive, every 2-5 hours during contest operation,
>requiring master reset, which takes aroun 2.5 minutes
>with user memory restore.  There were 7 resets for
>CQWW SSB and CW each. This muting always occurs at the
>maximum contest rate, and is disruptive.  I think this
>is the "Achilles heel" for this rig.  It has been
>suggested to do all keying from the front panel by Ten
>Tec(disabling th on-board keyer), which does not help.
> The 1.372 firmware does not help.
>Any comments?  Do I have a defective unit?
>73,
>John K3MD
>
>
>		
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