Lucky 10

I understand the reason for split operation when you run a DXpedition. Without split operation you probably wouldn’t be able to hear a thing apart from the big guns shouting for attention. Unfortunately for a little fish like me the split is too wide, most of the time. My classic TS-130V has a RIT of only 2 kHz. Nowadays many operations choose splits of 5 or even 10 kHz, even for CW! Never mind, I’m already glad to be able to hear them.

Today, however, 10 meters was open again and after tuning around I found a 53 signal from T32C. Nice, but I heard them before, so no big deal. But it became nicer when I noted he was working a split of 0 kHz and he was calling out CQ because there were few takers. Out came my mike and with the 12 Watts I am putting out on 10 meters he gave me a 59 report. Yeah, right! I gave him the honest 53, but I don’t think he noticed.

Of course, when my TS-440S is fixed I have a 1oo Watts and wide  RIT/XIT again, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet. I got the missing parts yesterday and spent tonight putting the VFO#5 back together again. No luck, still lots of dots on the display saying that the PLL won’t lock and I’m measuring 8 Volts where I should be measuring 5 Volts. The search for the fault continues……unfortunately.

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

2 Responses to “Lucky 10”

  • k8gu:

    I am enjoying reading about your adventures with EBG and the TS-440. I refurbished (and sold) one of those for a co-worker whose brother had lost interest in amateur radio a few years ago. Getting the VCOs to lock was a bit of a trick…I think I replaced some NP0 capacitors after liberating them from EBG. But, it sounds like you have a different problem. Good luck!

  • BX2ABT:

    Glad you’re enjoying it. The Yahoo group on the TS-440S is a good source for help and digging through the posts I found some hints on what and where to measure. I don’t have an oscilloscope, but I think with an RF probe I should be able to get some indication on what is (not) going on. I’ll keep you posted.

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