[TenTec] Argonaut 5

[Katz Ajamas]

Gary-

It's a long shot but this has cropped up in other, much less expensive, QRP
transmitters....
Filter chokes.
Continuity does not mean proper inductance.
Have seen cases of these things overheating and the "solder strip" wire
shorting turns.
You don't get this with the old enamel wire but you don't get automated
manufacturing ease either.

73, -Bob ah7i/W4

PS, want to work on my Orion I?
It's OK on TX. No RX (good mate for your argonaut!)
I suspect the little buffer bits between the sharks and the rx chain as the
22kHz signal is good. It was OK for a while on main RX with no subRX.
Recently, main RX give it up as well.



>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2016 12:49:20 -0500
> From: Gary J FollettDukes HiFi <dukeshifi at comcast.net>
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Come On Guys
> Message-ID: <EA1D5E80-D41E-41C3-A682-CE635CE4F3A7 at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Back to something more topic-related:
>
> I have an Argonaut 5 that is, perhaps, the least repairable radio even
> built.
>
> I can?t believe that the same design team that gave us the Orion (the MOST
> repairable radio ever produced, IMHO) could have produced this disaster.
>
> I am at the point of parting it out.
>
> Here is what works:
>
> 1) Display
> 2) Logic board
> 3) Power amp
>
>
> The analog board receives well and the radio makes a nifty receiver.
>
> In transmit, the thing puts out about 8 watts with a frequency of about 4
> MHz regardless of the band switch setting and has severe distortion (lots
> of peaks on the spectrum analyzer).
>
> The circuitry past the 450 KHz filter from the DSP is oscillating to
> produce this output at the antenna connector. (I have already done the
> obvious, replacing all of the little electrolytic caps on the board.)
>
> My hesitance to pursue it further stems from the fact that a previous
> person attempted to correct the problems and left enough things out of
> sorts as to foil logical troubleshooting.
>
> To make matters worse, it would appear that Ten Tec had about 6 people
> drawing up different parts of the schematic and not one of them knew the
> telephone number of any of the others.
>
> The result is a schematic that is a hodgepodge mess, part of it readable,
> part not, not sell-consistent and completely impossible to link in a
> unified drawing such as I made for the Collins KWM-2 (and published).
>
> I have too much to do to try to make cable fixtures to allow
> troubleshooting this thing with the analog board on the desktop. If one had
> these three cables, the process would not be TOO bad?
>
> I first offer this complete for $300. Cosmetically near perfection.
>
> If no interest, then let me know what parts you need and I will part it
> out.
>
> Gary
>
> W0DVN
>