[TenTec] TenTec Digest, Vol 243, Issue 10

Tue Mar 21 12:19:39 EDT 2023

Hello Mike,

I did but it was the same and surprisingly someone from the other group
pointed out a problem that solved my problem! It's a silly mistake and it's
because of the wire that I am attaching to the original Argo V power cable
so I could connect the power to the cigarette lighter of my car. When I
removed that wire and just leave the original Argo V's power cable. Who
would have thought that it would matter lol but it was a silly mistake that
I didn't take that little wire/cigarette plug into account. Now my Argo is
outputting 10W, and I just have to figure out the biasing as I believe I
messed up the adjust previously due to the frustrations I was having when
trying to solve the issue. Anyways, this might be a good note for everyone,
use a high-rated wire as much as possible with your Argo V.

73,
Joe, DV6XCY

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 12:00 AM <tentec-request at contesting.com> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. TenTec Argonaut V 516 Questions (joemarie aliling)
>    2. Re: TenTec Argonaut V 516 Questions (Mike Cumbo)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 22:42:57 +0800
> From: joemarie aliling <joemarie.aliling at gmail.com>
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: [TenTec] TenTec Argonaut V 516 Questions
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAEqmN+hjaA4se_TnR7YR35x3G0HCyd3sy3Cvca6irZbSwvmL-A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Hi all,
>
> So I just bought a used Argonaut V 516 and I've tested it initially using a
> dummy load and across the bands it can output 20W on CW. The next day, I
> went somewhere and tested it in my car and when I tried keying in CW, there
> was some weird sound from the speaker like it's cutting off the output. If
> I bump the ALC/Power adjustment to about 1/4, it's like the output is
> suppressed with the popping sound from the speaker. But when I tried to put
> the ALC/Power to the minimum I could hear the sidetone and this is only
> outputting about roughly 1W.
>
> Later on, I tested the 2 Finals, I observed it was a different pair, 1
> 2SC3133 and the other is a 2SC2509. I checked both with diode test and I am
> not sure with the Collector to Emitter as with one side, there's 0.56V
> reading and 0V at the opposite.Then I also tested both hFEs and 2SC3133 has
> 110 and 2SC2509 has 80. I am not sure if this is good or not.
>
> I then check some voltage readings around the board and one thing I noticed
> is that, the VCC is only about 11+ Volts (Those labeled with 13.6 Volts had
> this reading) Then I tried to increase the voltage of my variable power
> supply to make this into 13.8V and max current to around 7Amps. I was able
> to see an improvement in my TX and I was able to push the output level to 2
> Watts. Pushing the output beyond that however would make the sidetone
> wobbly and cutting off - seems like the power is being cut when it goes
> beyond 2W. Could this be an issue with the power supply lines/regulator?
> Could this be a sign of blown finals? I would appreciate anyone with a
> working Argo V if they could measure the voltage on those 13.6V points and
> probably share it with me.
>
> I hope you could share some ideas on this as I am so in love with this rig
> that I have spent so many sleepless nights figuring out what happened to
> this awesome little guy.
>
> Thank you all in advanced.
>
> Best regards,
> Joe, DV6XCY
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 11:13:08 -0400
> From: Mike Cumbo <mcumbo at triad.rr.com>
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] TenTec Argonaut V 516 Questions
> Message-ID: <mailman.6.1679414401.15091.tentec at contesting.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hello Joe,
>
>  Have you gone back to your original test on the dummy load when you
> observed 20 watts output? See if that still works.
>
> Mike Cumbo, ND4S
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail for Windows
>
> From: joemarie aliling
> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 10:43 AM
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: [TenTec] TenTec Argonaut V 516 Questions
>
> Hi all,
>
> So I just bought a used Argonaut V 516 and I've tested it initially using a
> dummy load and across the bands it can output 20W on CW. The next day, I
> went somewhere and tested it in my car and when I tried keying in CW, there
> was some weird sound from the speaker like it's cutting off the output. If
> I bump the ALC/Power adjustment to about 1/4, it's like the output is
> suppressed with the popping sound from the speaker. But when I tried to put
> the ALC/Power to the minimum I could hear the sidetone and this is only
> outputting about roughly 1W.
>
> Later on, I tested the 2 Finals, I observed it was a different pair, 1
> 2SC3133 and the other is a 2SC2509. I checked both with diode test and I am
> not sure with the Collector to Emitter as with one side, there's 0.56V
> reading and 0V at the opposite.Then I also tested both hFEs and 2SC3133 has
> 110 and 2SC2509 has 80. I am not sure if this is good or not.
>
> I then check some voltage readings around the board and one thing I noticed
> is that, the VCC is only about 11+ Volts (Those labeled with 13.6 Volts had
> this reading) Then I tried to increase the voltage of my variable power
> supply to make this into 13.8V and max current to around 7Amps. I was able
> to see an improvement in my TX and I was able to push the output level to 2
> Watts. Pushing the output beyond that however would make the sidetone
> wobbly and cutting off - seems like the power is being cut when it goes
> beyond 2W. Could this be an issue with the power supply lines/regulator?
> Could this be a sign of blown finals? I would appreciate anyone with a
> working Argo V if they could measure the voltage on those 13.6V points and
> probably share it with me.
>
> I hope you could share some ideas on this as I am so in love with this rig
> that I have spent so many sleepless nights figuring out what happened to
> this awesome little guy.
>
> Thank you all in advanced.
>
> Best regards,
> Joe, DV6XCY
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>
> End of TenTec Digest, Vol 243, Issue 10
> ***************************************
>