[TenTec] Information Sharing: Curing a Corsair I Drift Problem

[N6QW]

I am new to this list and did check the archives to see if perhaps this was specifically covered by others.  While there were references to drift correction in the Corsair's, I did not see this cure mentioned.

Earlier this year I purchased a Corsair one that I would call in "medium" shape and was generally pleased with the purchase save for the drift problem that would take about 2 hours to finally stop drifting.  But it was the  the drift in the first half hour that was a killer. Keeping the rig powered on all of the time was not optimal. There are several manufacturers of "vfo stabilizers" including rolling your own. 

I decided to try a product from the UK called the X-Lock 2 which will be discontinued this month to make way for X-Lock 3. Now I can turn on the Corsair and after about 2 seconds it will lock on frequency and stay there. The kit price depends on the exchange rate but typically is around $40. I have no affiliation with the company but have included a link on my website so you can see how it was installed. 

5 wires are used for the interface with two of those being power which is tapped into the Corsair rear apron aux power. 2 connections for the coax that samples the RF output and a 1 connection to the Offset pin on the PTO. There is a tri color led that shows the lock / unlock status and that I simply routed out the bottom of the Corsair Case and taped it to the bottom of the case. The range of the Offset is somewhat less with this fix but I am happy to forego a smaller range to gain the frequency stability. YMMV but I am only sharing what I experienced.

see: http://www.jessystems.com/X-Lock%20(rev%201).pdf

The manufacturer is Cumbria Designs, Ron Taylor G4GXO  http://www.cumbriadesigns.co.uk/x-lock.htm


73's
Pete N6QW