[TenTec] OMNI VI+ losing sensitivity and power on 12M

[John Oglesby]

  I have been having an issue with my Omni VI+ losing both output power 
and sensitivity on 12M.  This happens randomly while operating.  The 
output of the radio would drop to about 3 watts and sensitivity would 
drop to almost dead.  Changing bands several times usually clears the 
problem.  I thought it was a relay.

I called Ten-Tec and they said it is almost certainly the Xtal Osc/LO 
Mixer board that has very narrow traces that fracture and doesn't have 
plated through holes so joints fail on components.  They did not 
recommend sending in the radio as it often takes many hours of effort to 
find and fix the problem and may turn out to be not repairable.

I'm still not totally bought in to this diagnosis since changing bands 
seems to temporarily fix things, so I am looking for other opinions.

Does anyone have experience with this problem, or had to repair this 
board in the past?  Any experiences would be good to hear.

Thanks & 73
John
N9RE