[TenTec] Orion II: nothing at startup

[John K3GHH]

On 11/06/2012 08:57 AM, John K3GHH wrote:
> Several times in the past few days my O2 (firmware 3.028) has had no 
> transmit output, and no audio output except faint background hiss, 
> when I first turn it on. The paddles produce a nice sidetone, but 
> neither the Orion's nor the antenna tuner's meter moves.
>
> So far, at least, switching the Orion's power off and then back on has 
> restored operability (e.g., the tuner's meter shows forward power 115w 
> on 80m CW). I just checked the power supply (it's on the floor under 
> the desk) and found its meter showing 13v --- lower than I thought but 
> not likely the source of this problem. Obviously I'd rather not have 
> to rely on the off-on "fix." Any suggestions?
>
Progress report:

A couple of weeks ago the O2 display finally quit entirely. There are 
three suggestions in this thread: capacitors, cables, and battery. 
Starting with the easiest (not necessarily the most likely), I replaced 
the battery. No display. The plan was to clean the cable contacts next, 
but since the case was open I decided to replace the capacitors too. 
With three new 470uf capacitors on the A9 board, and the A and B cable 
contacts cleaned, the radio is working again. I'm pretty sure the new 
capacitors solved the problem.

This was my first work with printed-circuit boards --- probably not the 
wisest project to begin with! I was unable to remove the original 
capacitors without destroying them, but new ones were only $1.39 at the 
local Radio Shack. The biggest trouble was clearing solder out of the 
holes so the new capacitors' leads could be inserted.

It was fun playing with the Scout in the interim, but I'm very glad to 
have the Orion back!

-- 
John K3GHH