[TenTec] Omni 6 Plus: No RX or TX on 10 meters (Intermittent)

Mon Jul 6 22:52:03 EDT 2015

In my experience, yes. There are or have been a number of lead-free alloys developed to try to mitigate the problems arising from loss of the ductility properties of lead alloys. It's also true that the manufacturing soldering process control and the material properties of component leads  are much more critical for the RoHS solders than for the Sn-Pb solders. As well-intentioned as the RoHS initiative was (to reduce the hazards associated with disposal), a number of unanticipated "issues" were revealed, which had not been issues for many decades of manufacturing with Sn-Pb solders. Many (I believe) unanticipated issues of chemical and thermal compatibiliy of materials and processes were discovered....giving guys like me premature gray/white hair. 

There is actually a decent treatise* regarding the genesis, history, and "oops" aspects the RoHS mandate at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directive<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directive>

*The wiki treatise downplays the dendritic whisker formation issue. This phenomenon is a devilish one, and often requires the use of very high powered microscopes and alternative lighting to "see" (and some pretty unorthodox fault isolation techniques), although the consequence...ghostly coupling of circuits not schematically coupled, can drive a guy quite mad.

Hopefully, in a few decades, the incompatibility issues will have been resolved. And we'll have expected black-box reliability AND protection from toxic waste for us humans. In the meantime....

73,

Allen--W7GIF

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Joe Papworth via TenTec<mailto:tentec at contesting.com> 

To: tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com> 

Cc: k8mp at aol.com<mailto:k8mp at aol.com> 

Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 6:21 PM

Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni 6 Plus: No RX or TX on 10 meters (Intermittent)

Your comments were very eye-opening for me Allen. I had no idea that RoHS compliance has such a down side. Is it the lead-free solder that's causing the problem?
Later, Joe, K8MP
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-----Original Message-----
From: A R <raf_3 at msn.com<mailto:raf_3 at msn.com>>
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com>>
Sent: Mon, Jul 6, 2015 01:25 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni 6 Plus: No RX or TX on 10 meters (Intermittent)

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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>
QSL. In my former life in military and space electronics, I spent many
hundreds of hours chasing RoHS-induced problems (today they're called "issues"),
including the microscopic fracturing of solder connections between component
leads and board conductors/traces, AND the growth of unintended conduction paths
on board surfaces called "dendritic whiskers". In industries where reliability
is absolutely critical and essential, the solution is generally an "exemption"
from RoHS compliance. 

73,

Allen--W7GIF 

----- Original Message
----- 

From: Jim Allen<<a href="mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net?">mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net</a<mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net?">mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net</a>>> 

To: Discussion
of Ten-Tec Equipment<<a href="mailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com</a<mailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com</a>>> 

Sent: Monday, July 06,
2015 9:55 AM

Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni 6 Plus: No RX or TX on 10 meters
(Intermittent)

So the new radios have a built in failure mode that the
"boat anchors" did not?

That's unnerving?

73 de W6OGC Jim Allen 

Sent
from my iPad

> On Jul 6, 2015, at 10:25 AM, A R
<<a href="mailto:raf_3 at msn.com">raf_3 at msn.com</a><<a<mailto:raf_3 at msn.com%22%3Eraf_3 at msn.com%3C/a%3E%3C%3Ca> href="mailto:raf_3 at msn.com?">mailto:raf_3 at msn.com</a<mailto:raf_3 at msn.com?">mailto:raf_3 at msn.com</a>>>> wrote:
> 
> 
> Welcome to the lead-free
world of RoHS. Your spools of 60/40 solder are NOT RoHS-compliant...but will
likely improve reliability of solder connections which are subjected to the
stresses of expansion/contraction of dissimilar materials due to thermal
excursions. Sn-Pb is more ductile, and as a result more tolerant of the thermal
excursion stresses, than the RoHS-compliant solders. 
> 
> 
> 
> 73,
> 
>
Allen--W7GIF
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> 
> From: Jim
Allen<<a href="mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net<mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net?">mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net<mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net</a<mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net%3Cmailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net?">mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net<mailto:jim.allen at longhornband.net</a>>>> 
>

> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec
Equipment<<a href="mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com</a<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com</a>>>> 
> 
>
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 5:46 AM
> 
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Omni 6 Plus: No
RX or TX on 10 meters (Intermittent)
> 
> 
> 
> I'm glad you found the
fix.
> 
> Why is it there are so many re-solder fixes these days.  I don't
recall ever hearing about resoldering on the old gear.  Anybody ever have to fix
a 75A4 or SX101, etc. by resoldering some connections?
> 
> 73 de W6OGC Jim
Allen 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Jul 6, 2015, at 7:39 AM, Joe Papworth
via TenTec
<<a href="mailto:tentec at contesting.com">tentec at contesting.com</a><<a<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%22%3Etentec at contesting.com%3C/a%3E%3C%3Ca> href="mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com</a<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com?">mailto:tentec at contesting.com<mailto:tentec at contesting.com%3Cmailto:tentec at contesting.com</a>>>>>
wrote:
>> 
>> It appears to be fixed and in repairing it, I fixed another
annoying problem, which was spurs and floaters on ten meters only. Those had
been plaguing me for several years.
>> 
>> 
>> First, thanks to Paul at Ten
Tec for pointing me in the right direction and to Mark, K8VF, and others for
their suggestions.
>> 
>> 
>> Paul was right. The problem was on the Xtal
Osc/LO board. The repair process went like this:
>> 
>> 
>> 1) I looked at
the schematic of the board and saw there are 4 separate xtal
>> ? ? oscillators
for ten meters (I assume one for each 500 Khz band segment)
>> ? ? Since I was
losing the entire band, I knew it wasn't one of those circuits.?
>> ? ? That
eliminated a lot of circuitry as a possible cause.
>> 
>> 
>> 2) After
reading the theory of operation, I pretty much narrowed things down ? ? to the
L9, L10, and L11 circuits, plus the Q4 and Q5 circuits.
>> 
>> 
>> 3) I
resoldered every component in those areas and voila, no more spurs or
>> ? ?
floaters and so far, RX and TX are fine. (I'm fairly certain the rig would
>> ?
? have failed?by?now)
>> 
>> 
>> Later, Joe
>> 
>>
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