[TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 107, Issue 27

Fri Nov 11 13:47:23 PST 2011

I have one of those controllers apart, spread across the workbench 
downstairs! I concur, if you don't have patience / experience with Rube 
Goldberg construction, avoid trying to replace that lamp!!!

That said, I did electronic repair on my father's electronic accordion 
during his musical career. He reported a puzzling problem to me that 
took several attempts to fix, but I finally resolved it. Your statement 
about the lower voltage than expected triggered my memory about this story.

The problem was that "sometimes" when he played 'full chords' (4 and 5 
keys pressed simultaneously) he would get a slight hum in the audio. But 
not always. I couldn't duplicate this at his home. I didn't find 
anything unusual during my first attempt of troubleshooting with the 
VOM. But he was really complaining about it after one venue he had 
recently played. I asked him about that. It was a barn warming with a 
couple hundred feet of extension cords feeding all the electrical stuff.

In this environment he said that it would start humming its brains out 
even when he played 2 or 3 notes! When he got home, it worked fine 
again. I brought over my o'scope that time. What I found was one leg of 
a bridge rectifier in the power supply had opened up. So the "DC" being 
sent to the filter section had a sawtooth pattern.

I speculate with the lower voltage at the barn event, the filter section 
couldn't clean up the ragged DC that was being produced. And of course, 
this condition was not detectable with my VOM. I replaced the bridge 
rectifier and he was a happy camper for years to come!

(I guess I'm in a story-telling mood today!) Good luck with your repair.

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 11/11/2011 2:00 PM, towertalk-request at contesting.com wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>     1. Re: Yaesu Rotors (K1TTT)
>     2. yaesu rotor controller repair (Kevin Normoyle)
>     3. Re: Yaesu Rotors (Jim Chaggaris)
>     4. Re: Yaesu Rotors (Joseph or Ruth Patrick)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:14:47 +0000
> From: "K1TTT"<K1TTT at ARRL.NET>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
> To:<towertalk at contesting.com>
> Message-ID:<7E2D8E5469254CBFBDED3DD995F358ED at k1tttibm>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> The lamp (just one) is a radial lead thing and an odd voltage if I remember
> right, and it is taped to the edge of the clear background piece... And
> getting that out means taking apart half of the front panel.  Go with the
> LED's or some other kind of lamp unless you want a project for a rainy day.
>
>
> David Robbins K1TTT
> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
> web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://k1ttt.net
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mike Ryan [mailto:mryan001 at tampabay.rr.com]
>> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 16:02
>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>> Subject: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
>>
>>
>>
>> I hope someone can help here. Has anyone replaced the lamps
>> in the CONTROL
>> box that illuminate the meter face?  If so what did you use,
>> where did you
>> get the lamps?  I suppose Radio Shack has something that
>> might work..not
>> worried about an exact replacement. Just want to light it up
>> as the bulbs
>> have gone out. Thanks in advance. -M. Ryan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of
>> virus signature
>> database 6621 (20111111) __________
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>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:17:59 -0800
> From: Kevin Normoyle<knormoyle at surfnetusa.com>
> Subject: [TowerTalk] yaesu rotor controller repair
> To: TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Message-ID:<4EBD58C7.4000001 at surfnetusa.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> since we're talking yaesu, I'll throw something out in case someone can help.
> I'm shotgunning this debug, but maybe someone has experience that can help.
>
> I have a g-1000dxa controller that had two problems: the preset didn't work, and
> when a rotation of 450 deg. at the rotator only indicated 360 deg of rotation at
> the controller, no matter how i adjusted things.
>
> I have two g-1000dxa, so I was able to compare with known good
> rotator/controller combinations, so I knew the problem was localized to the
> controller.
>
> The other problem was that I couldn't adjust the output voltage to the rotator
> to be more than 20v. The known good one can be adjusted to 28v with 24v typical.
>
> So I couldn't really figure out the operation from the schematic. The controller
> board is not available separately from Yaesu, only it + PSU board for $300. So
> that didn't make sense since digital controller replacements are available for $250.
>
> So looking at all the parts on the bottom of the control board (it's easy to
> take out..double sided..most active parts on the bottom, so can't see unless you
> remove)....it seemed like the most likely suspects were the op amps.
>
> They were available cheap (<$1 each) so I replaced the two quad op-amps (TSOP
> packages..not bad though if you have a fine tipped low wattage iron) and the
> preset worked, but still the 360 vs 450 degree issue. Replaced the two dual
> op-amps and now the indicator goes 450 like it should. The part #s on the
> schematic (and manufacturer) were available online.
>
> But I still only get 20v output, so that issue bugs me. Although this is on a
> lighter antenna array, so it actually turns fine.
> I do get some reduction in voltage with the speed adjust and the on-board pot
> adjust, but not like on the known good controller
>
>    I did notice that a series resistor in the output from the controller board
> (from an op amp) seemed to have changed value..I changed that but didn't notice
> any difference.
>
> I'm thinking there might be an issue with some of the transistors on the PSU
> board, but those part numbers aren't immediately available online. (maybe I can
> look harder)
>
> This was all probably due to static or lightning. Although it's possible the 20v
> issue may be due to driving an overloaded antenna array? Wonder if some
> transistor might have gotten cooked.
>
> any thoughts or experiences repairing the electronics on a yaesu controller?
>
> -kevin
> ad6z
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:57:39 -0600
> From: "Jim Chaggaris"<jimc at pwrone.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
> To:<towertalk at contesting.com>,	<mryan001 at tampabay.rr.com>
> Message-ID:<004601cca09b$675dfe50$3619faf0$@com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
> I had no problem changing out the wheat lamp in my 800DXA with another one
> rated the same.  The only downside is the reflective tape Yaesu used to even
> out the dial illumination gets easily damaged.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Jim N9WW
>
> James Chaggaris
> President
> PowerOne Corp./PowerOne Environmental
> 1020 Cedar Ave. Suite 203
> St. Charles, IL 60174
> Phn: 630-443-6500
> Cell: 630-669-2241
> Fax: 630-443-6505
> Website: www.pwrone.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of K0DAN
> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 10:46 AM
> To: jim at audiosystemsgroup.com; towertalk at contesting.com;
> mryan001 at tampabay.rr.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
>
> The Yaesu controllers are EXTREMELY un-user-friendly and very hard to take
> apart and service and also difficult to avoid causing collateral damage.
> Jim's suggestion to avoid digging in there is wise...either live with the
> dark controller, or if you must have it lit, then add some LED's in the
> least-intrusive way possible. Those controllers are a nightmare!
>
> 73
> k0dan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Brown
> Sent: November 11, 2011 10:19 AM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
>
> On 11/11/2011 8:02 AM, Mike Ryan wrote:
>> I hope someone can help here. Has anyone replaced the lamps in the CONTROL
>> box that illuminate the meter face?  If so what did you use, where did you
>> get the lamps?  I suppose Radio Shack has something that might work..not
>> worried about an exact replacement. Just want to light it up as the bulbs
>> have gone out.
> I encountered that problem a year or two ago -- the bulbs in my Yaesu
> controller burned out after only about six months, clearly a design
> failure.  It looked to be quite difficult to replace them, and also to
> find replacements, so I improvised the installation of a couple of white
> LEDs alongside the right side of the display, poked around the schematic
> to find V+, and connected the LEDs to V+ through suitable dropping
> resistors to limit the current.  Two years later, they're working fine.
> although the original bulbs illuminated the face more uniformly.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:56:52 -0800 (PST)
> From: Joseph or Ruth Patrick<hdmc38 at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
> To: Mike Ryan<mryan001 at tampabay.rr.com>
> Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
> Message-ID:
> 	<1321041412.29332.YahooMailRC at web180604.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> I have to agree with the other responses. I have a Yaesu G-1000DXA. I changed
> the lamp and it is real PIA. If you can do the LED do it. You can get stock
> bulbs from Yaesu.
> ?73 DE K4XZ Joe Patrick
> God Made Man
> Sam Colt Made Them Equal
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Mike Ryan<mryan001 at tampabay.rr.com>
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Sent: Fri, November 11, 2011 11:02:22 AM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Yaesu Rotors
>
>
> I hope someone can help here. Has anyone replaced the lamps in the CONTROL
> box that illuminate the meter face?? If so what did you use, where did you
> get the lamps?? I suppose Radio Shack has something that might work..not
> worried about an exact replacement. Just want to light it up as the bulbs
> have gone out. Thanks in advance. -M. Ryan
>
>
>
>
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
> database 6621 (20111111) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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> End of TowerTalk Digest, Vol 107, Issue 27
> ******************************************
>