[TenTec] OMNI VII, Herc II, QSK

[k6jek]

Perhaps you lead a charmed life.

Mine didn't work. Garry Green of Ten-Tec service said, indeed it doesn't work as designed with the OMNI VII. With earlier transceivers, yes. With the OMNI VII, no.  I needed to short D11 on the control board of the Hercules II. Maybe yours already has that modification or perhaps yours is a newer revision with some other change. Mine is early. The OMNI VII is early too.

Here's the issue. To assert TX Enable (aka Key Out), the Hercules II drops that line to ground. But it doesn't quite make it there. It gets to about 1.2 - 1.3 V above ground which is not low enough for the OMNI VII.

That line is collector of the Darlington pair Q1 -> D11 (1N4002) -> OMNI VII -> a different D11 -> U20.  The OMNI is already protected by its own diode confusingly also named D11 so the D11 in the Hercules II isn't necessary but contributes .6V of the 1.2V above ground.

I tried substituting a Schottky for the Hercules D11. It didn't suffice. Perhaps Schottkys for both D11's would but since Ten-Tec service recommends just shorting the H II D11, that's what I did.

Jon

On Apr 12, 2014, at 9:31 AM, J.T Turner wrote:

> I got my Omni VII in September 2007. It has worked with my Herc II in QSK mode from then until now. So I can't understand the comments in this thread. What am I missing?
> 
> 73.
> 
> John ND0N
> 
> JTT iPhone
> 
>> On Apr 11, 2014, at 14:02, Jon Kannegaard <kannegaard at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>> No. They don't work together in QSK and never did. To make them work short D11 on the control board of the Hercules II.
>> 
>> Hours of sleuthing and puzzling over the QSK circuitry and consulting with my friend Jeff (K6JCA) led to this conclusion. However, I could have found this out with a 5 minute call to Ten-Tec Service which I finally made after all the detective work.
>> 
>> Jon
>> 
>> PS: As long as we're on the subject of what Ten-Tec should build, how about a Hercules III? The II is a sweet amp if you don't mind the one cubic foot , 58 pound power supply.
>> 
>>> On Apr 9, 2014, at 8:30 AM, k6jek wrote:
>>> 
>>> Anyone using the OMNI VII with a Hercules II QSK?
>>> 
>>> It's not working here. I notice the H II drops the TX EN/Key out line from 4.1 to 1.2 volts when it's keyed. This doesn't seem to be good enough for the OMNI VII to think that TX really is enabled. 
>>> 
>>> Menu item in OMNI VII set to KEY LOOP ON.
>>> 
>>> Jon
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
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