[TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

Sat Mar 22 00:00:03 EDT 2014

I de-mated, cleaned, and re-seated all connectors, both the TMP coax as well as board connectors to the backplane.  No joy, situation unchanged. Then I resorted to the old fashioned push and jiggle test on all the boards and connections. Again no luck. 

For what it's worth I uploaded a crude video to youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=287q99crPjY&feature=em-upload_owner) showing the problem in real life. The video begins with a cw signal being received by the SUB receiver and then I bring up the audio of the same signal on the MAIN Rcvr.  Keep in mind this is happening on 20M only. 

Any comments or thoughts are welcomed. In the meantime, I brought the old TS-940 down off the shelf. I'd forgotten how heavy those old radios were!

73, Art   

> From: Rick at DJ0IP.de
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 12:26:10 +0100
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue
> 
> The original "pre-production" Eagles did not have gold contacts either.
> Carl, you probably had one of these, as did Bob and I.
> I later sent mine back to the factory and had the motherboard swapped, so
> now I have gold contacts too.
> 
> ALL PRODUCTION UNITS HAD GOLD CONTACTS, so if you bought an Eagle, don't
> worry!  Yours has gold contacts.
> 
> I doubt we will ever see any non-gold contacts again from these two
> companies.
> 
> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Carl
> Moreschi
> Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:42 AM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue
> 
> Elecraft had the same problem with the K3.  But they now do a free upgrade
> to gold contacts.
> 
> Carl Moreschi N4PY
> 58 Hogwood Rd
> Louisburg, NC 27549
> www.n4py.com
> 
> On 3/19/2014 8:08 PM, Bob McGraw - K4TAX wrote:
> > It's not only related to Tentec products or Orion radios. For years 
> > I've dealt with service and maintenance on products costing 5X to 10X 
> > or more of what the Orion's. cost. These products have been found to 
> > have the same issues. Some interconnection methods are better or worse 
> > than others. It is a matter of cost vs. space along with a few other
> factors.
> >
> > Just exercise the connectors, clean the pins and apply a very small 
> > amount of contact cleaner. It will serve you well until next time.
> >
> > 73
> > Bob, K4TAX
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Moreschi" 
> > <n4py3 at earthlink.net>
> > To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 3:16 PM
> > Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue
> >
> >
> >> The Orion and Orion II have shown a history of problems related to 
> >> corrosion building up on the cable connections in the radio. These 
> >> connections should have been gold plated but they are not. In 
> >> particular, the cable connections behind the front panel have over 
> >> 100 connections. Many times the solution is to remove the front 
> >> panel, which is not at all difficult, and unplug the cables, spray 
> >> them with a contact cleaner, and then while they are still wet, plug 
> >> them in and out 10 times or more to clean them. This fixed all the 
> >> intermittent problems on my Orion. And with so many connections, 
> >> almost any symptom is possible.
> >>
> >> Carl Moreschi N4PY
> >> 58 Hogwood Rd
> >> Louisburg, NC 27549
> >> www.n4py.com
> >>
> >> On 3/19/2014 3:38 PM, art N4UC wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Here's a brain teaser for all you Orion experts. My 565 running ver
> >>> 3.032 has developed a couple of problems that I was hoping would be 
> >>> a firmware issue but it's looking more and more like a hardware 
> >>> problem. I'm looking for some ideas about where to start 
> >>> troubleshooting.
> >>>
> >>> In a nutshell the two problems (which may just be different symptoms 
> >>> of one problem) are these:
> >>>
> >>> 1. All signals received by the main rcvr on 20M only are extremely 
> >>> garbled and distorted. This condition is not dependent on mode and 
> >>> all other receiver functions such as S-meter operation, AGC, BW and 
> >>> PBT functions seem to be unaffected. Operation of the sub-receiver 
> >>> is normal. One interesting note is that a signal disappears when I 
> >>> engage the hardware NB, which is probably just an indicator that the 
> >>> NB thinks it's seeing noise and just doing its job.
> >>>
> >>> 2. When both VFO's display the same frequency, there is a difference 
> >>> in received frequency between the two receivers. This is present 
> >>> regardless of band, but the difference is not the same from band to 
> >>> band. The worst I've noticed is 200 hz offset on 20M, but other 
> >>> bands exhibit 50-100 hz delta between the receivers in spite of 
> >>> displaying the same frequencies. It doesn't matter how the two 
> >>> receivers arrive at the same frequency, either by pressing the A>B 
> >>> button or configuring both Main and Sub recvrs to be controlled by
> VFO-A.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> This all came on as an intermittent condition. I would notice that 
> >>> during operation on 20M, received signals would suddenly jump by
> >>> 100-200 hz and I would have to re-tune to get back on frequency. I 
> >>> was assuming that the transmitted frequency was jumping as well, but 
> >>> I haven't verified that as yet. Anyway, after the "jump" occurred, 
> >>> the signals would sound warbly and quivery (technical terms for 
> >>> "trashy"). No matter their signal strength they sounded watery like 
> >>> they were coming from over the North Pole. If I were to select a 
> >>> different band and then return , the receiver would "slide" a few 
> >>> hertz back onto frequency before settling.
> >>>
> >>> I have
> >>> sometimes noticed that just before this would happen there would be 
> >>> a rise in noise level, like precipitation static. While the rcvr is 
> >>> off-frequency, there is a lot of noise/hash that is in sync with 
> >>> other signals some as far away as 50 khz. It resembles being at 
> >>> field day in close proximity to several transmitters. Even though 
> >>> they are way out of the bandpass of the filters and too far away to 
> >>> hear a cw tone, I can copy them by listening to the hash.
> >>>
> >>> I have re-flashed the firmware and performed a few master-resets, 
> >>> etc... with no change. The problem is no longer intermittent and I'm 
> >>> looking for ideas while I decide how much $$$ I want to put into 
> >>> repairing a really fine, but old, radio.
> >>>
> >>> 73, Art/N4UC
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> TenTec mailing list
> >>> TenTec at contesting.com
> >>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> >>>
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> >>
> >
> >
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