[TenTec] repairs

[Denton]

Been there, had that happen. My Omni VI Plus keep blowing up the finals 
and/or final drivers when I was using recommended Airpax breakers in 
conjunction with my homebrew stations power supply and battery backup.
Under some cirumstances, the rig would attempt to draw far more current than 
the finals would tolerate.
Since I procured matching TT power supplies, ( I also have a Paragon II) I 
have had no further problems with blown finals.
If there is any slight indication of over current draw from the TT 961 power 
supplies, they shut down immedately...far faster than the Airpax's can 
react.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ROBERT CARROLL" <w2wg at comcast.net>
To: "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] repairs


>I had recently questioned whether the Omni or similar rigs had a design
> problem if they needed to be protected by an Airpax breaker.  One of the
> Airpax advocates responded that the issue was not oscillation but the
> ability of the rigs to put out full power into a mismatch causing a quick
> thermal failure due to inadequate heat-sinking.  To me that sounded like a
> questionable explanation, but again a misdesign problem if true.  But 
> these
> failures do indeed sound like oscillation problems.  Strange indeed.  My
> condolences.  It is a painful experience to have to ship a rig out for
> repair.
> 73
> Bob W2WG
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of Mike Hyder -N4NT-
> Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 9:03 AM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] repairs
>
> I've had similar experiences (current jumping up all of a sudden because 
> of
> self-oscillation) with the older Ten-Tec radios.  In my case the trouble 
> was
>
> caused by the rig's not producing ALC voltage because of bad diodes.  I
> called Garland and he said something like, "Yep, they can do that if the
> diodes are bad."  It cost me about $0.96 to make the repair.
>
> 73, Mike N4NT
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Larry DiGioia" <listacct at longwire.com>
> To: <tentec at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 10:30 PM
> Subject: [TenTec] repairs
>
>
> OK, guys, I normally consider myself a pretty patient guy. But this is
> getting to be a bit much.
>
> I have sent my OmniVI Plus back to the factory 3 times in one year. Each
> time for (roughly) the same problem: the transmitter keeps blowing out.
> After the second time, I set myself up with the best antenna tuners that
> money can buy, just in case it was my fault. As of now, I really don't
> think it was.
>
> Each time, I am able to operate for a short time, a few hours, before
> something gives, and the transmitter is then only able to go into some
> kind of oscillation where it pegs the current meter after advancing the
> power level up past a couple of watts. This happens while slowly and
> carefully advancing the power control in preparation for tuning up.
>
> It happened again today. This time around, I was able to run 80m during
> sweepstakes a few weeks ago for several hours, and that is the only time
> I have had the radio on since getting it back. Then I tried to tune up
> on 20m this morning, and <poof>.
>
> To their credit, they have replaced many components, last time at no
> charge. But this will be the second DX season that I have missed due to
> the average 4 to 6-week turnaround on repairs - (had to use my spare
> Yaesu rig for cqww, ugh.)
>
> I really like Ten-Tec equipment, but I am rapidly losing faith. It is as
> if they are just putting band-aids on the problem, instead of actually
> fixing what is wrong. I have heard, for example, that certain parts for
> the Omni's are simply unavailable, is there any truth to that?
>
> I would really hate to become one of the rice-burner users, but what is
> my alternative? Any others with similar experiences? Any suggestions
> appreciated, thanks.
>
>
> -- 
> Larry  N8KU
>
> w w w . l o n g w i r e . c o m
>    100% CW     100% HF
>
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