[TenTec] 229 swr circuit

[Rick W]

I ordered the caps from the Ukraine a week ago. I looked at the 229A and was contemplating your exact procedure.  Thanks for confirming the methodology.

As for the meter.  I have an LP-100A external meter BUT for tuner adjustment purposes I've always liked an analogue meter.

The 229A is now mounted in the rack and working well (except for the meter circuit).  It does look like I'll be needing an external capacitor to tune the 43 foot vertical on 160.  The new "pointer" for the unit was ordered 2 weeks ago and will, hopefully, be here this week.  At that time I'll look into further tests on the meter itself.  I have the feeling that I'll be calling the mother ship for a replacement unit.  It looks like the same meter is used in the 238 series tuners.
 
73,
Rick
VE7TK


Website:  http://www.ve7tk.com

To:"Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com> 
Subject:Re: [TenTec] 229 swr circuit 
From:"denton" <denton at oregontrail.net> 
Reply-to:Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com> 
Date:Tue, 3 Jul 2012 07:04:50 -0700 
List-post:<tentec at contesting.com">mailto:tentec at contesting.com> 
I had a 229 TT kit tuner that I did same capacitor replacement..
To make the job a bit easier, I took out the screws holding the roller 
inductor and variable capacitor to the bottom cover, put a folded towel on 
top of the inductor and capacitor to keep them from moving and installed the 
tuner's top cover.
Then I flipped over the tuner and took off the bottom cover. The area I 
wanted to work was easily accessable. --------------------------------------------------
From: "Bob McGraw - K4TAX" <RMcGraw at Blomand.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 4:44 AM
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] 229 swr circuit >With my 238 tuner I too experienced issues with observed SWR drifting at >higher power values, but only under certain antenna configurations. >Conclusion, the 220pf capacitors wired parallel and associated with the Hi  >Z >and Lo Z switch were getting hot, thus changing values.   I replaced each >pair with a Russian made  470 pf 2KV doorknob style capacitor.   These can >be found on E-Bay for a nominal price. > >Mounting was accomplished by drilling holes through the bottom plate in  >the >area of the original capacitors.  It is a tight place to work but with a >little planning the result is a very nice professional job. > >Problem solved. > >73 >Bob, K4TAX > > >----- Original Message -----  >From: "David Cuttler" <davidcuttler at yahoo.com> >To: <tentec at contesting.com> >Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 11:30 PM >Subject: Re: [TenTec] 229 swr circuit > > >>I own a 229 tuner, and I have never used the meter. If it ever died,
 I >>wouldn't care because it is of limited use. I would recommend finding a >>good external meter that will read CW & PEP like the Ameritron AWM-30  >>which >>is what I use, and forget about the 229 meter. >> >> Of more importance are the crummy disc capacitors in the tuning circuit. >> My tuner would not hold a setting, and the swr would drift all over when >> used on the lower bands until I replaced all of the the disc caps with >> Russian door knob caps that I purchased off Ebay. Now my 229 tuner is  >> rock >> steady, and I have not had any issues with it after the modification. >> >> If your antenna does not need a tuner, then you will be happy with the  >> 229 >> as it is built, but if you are using antennas that are far from 50 ohms >> like my doublet that is fed with 450 ohm window line, the 229 in the >> factory configuration is a lousy piece of equipment. >> >> The meter is more bother than it is worth, unless you are like me, and >> need to
 have everything working correctly just because it's there! >> >> Sorry for the rant. >> >>