[TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

Sat Mar 22 08:25:18 EDT 2014

Would seem that a trip to Sevierville might be in order.

73
Bob, K4TAX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "art N4UC" <n4uc at hotmail.com>
To: "TenTec reflector" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion 565 Main Receiver Issue

>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
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>> TenTec at contesting.com
>> >>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>> >>>
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>> >
>> >
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