The other day, I heard someone on 75 comment that tube equipment is like a 
drunk: you can beat on him all day and he'll still smile at you.  Not 
necessarily true for all drunks, I guess, but maybe some of them.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard, W A 9 Y B W" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2013 14:35
Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working


> One of the first things I learned in electronics school is that solid 
> state
> devices especially CMOS devices can be damaged by handling them without
> properly grounding your work area as well as yourself.  Often the damage 
> can
> be done and not show up for weeks to months unless the static discharge
> totally killed the device from the get go.
>
> Why do you think these devices are packaged in antistatic packaging?  You
> MUST continue the protection during all handling including the 
> instillation
> process.  Now, boys and girls, do you all do this?
>
> Things are different now compared to the good-old vacuum tube days.
>
> 73
>
> Howard #3
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2013 12:03 PM
> Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>
>
>> Kind of disappointing too, the least they can do is go spectacularly with
>> much noise, a good show, and a horrific smell like my TS-930 did when the
>> power supply let go or the TS-530 I got from someone in trade for
>> something
>> a few years ago. I wasn't going to even keep the 530 I just wanted to 
>> test
>> it and make sure it worked before I turned around and sold it, I got just
>> as
>> much for it blown up as I would have working so it wasn't a huge loss but
>> it
>> took a week to get rid of the smell, the 930 was even worse.
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2013 12:27 PM
>> Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>
>>
>>> Absolutely agree.  Many electronics die quietly - no sparks, noise,
>>> or zaps.  They just don't work when you want them to.--Matthew Chao,
>>> N1IBB.
>>>
>>> At 11:18 AM 1/6/2013, you wrote:
>>>>Jim,
>>>>
>>>>All kidding aside, one of the worst nightmares for anyone dealing with
>>>>solid-state equipment today is the lightning hit.  I don't mean the kind
>>>>where smoke and flame comes out of the equipment and sets the building 
>>>>on
>>>>fire, but the kind where apparently nothing happens.  A friend of mine
>>>>who's
>>>>the chief engineer at a TV station in Connecticut used to complain
>>>>constantly that about two weeks after even the most minor electrical
>>>>storm
>>>>some piece of equipment would fail, usually in a manner that was
>>>>difficult
>>>>to troubleshoot and fix.  While I can't say for certain that your speech
>>>>chip is that kind of failure, my point is that it doesn't take much to
>>>>send
>>>>a chip south, and it may have been something as simple as a static 
>>>>pulse,
>>>>or
>>>>a voltage spike.  One nice thing about tube-type equipment was that you
>>>>could beat on it all day and it wouldn't fail.  Unfortunately,
>>>>solid-state
>>>>stuff is much less forgiving.
>>>>
>>>>Steve
>>>>
>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2013 03:26
>>>>Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> > Hi Steve, of course you are right.  It's just plain weird when
>>>> > something like that happens so unexpectedly.  I thought it could
>>>> > be because my rig had been subjected to some more temperature
>>>> > extremes than earlier but who knows.  I think it has to do with
>>>> > the lunar cycle as others have intimated here.  Smile, Jim WA6EKS
>>>> >
>>>> > ----- Original Message -----
>>>> > From: Steve Dresser <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> > Date sent: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 22:22:09 -0500
>>>> > Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> > Of course.  We're so used to almost perfectly working electronic
>>>> > components
>>>> > that rarely, if ever, fail.  In the days of discrete components,
>>>> > things
>>>> > failed all the time, usually stuff like capacitors (which,
>>>> > incidentally, are
>>>> > still the weakest link in any electronic device), or resistors
>>>> > which had
>>>> > this nasty habit of changing value.  And don't forget good old
>>>> > tubes, which
>>>> > had to be replaced on a regular basis.  Listen to some of the
>>>> > guys on AM,
>>>> > and you'll know all about component failure.
>>>> >
>>>> > Steve
>>>> >
>>>> > ----- Original Message -----
>>>> > From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > To: <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 15:16
>>>> > Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Hi Steve, right you are, but it's pretty disconcerting when it
>>>> > happens.
>>>> > 73,
>>>> > Jim WA6EKS
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>>> > From: Steve Dresser
>>>> > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 12:05 PM
>>>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> > Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> > Jim,
>>>> >
>>>> > Maybe some stray voltage hit the chip and destroyed it, or maybe
>>>> > it was
>>>> > just
>>>> > defective and failed for some other unexplained reason.  We're
>>>> > not used to
>>>> > seeing component failure much these days, but it certainly can
>>>> > still
>>>> > happen,
>>>> > as you discovered.
>>>> >
>>>> > Steve
>>>> >
>>>> > ----- Original Message -----
>>>> > From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > To: <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 14:54
>>>> > Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Hi Darren, I called Kenwood this morning and got ahold of Leo
>>>> > who
>>>> > does amateur tech support.  He had no idea why the original chip
>>>> > quit after working fine for over two years, and wasn't
>>>> > interested
>>>> > in checking out the old chip to see what might have happened to
>>>> > it.  I'm just relieved that the chip fixed the problem and that
>>>> > I
>>>> > didn't have to send the rig in for a check up.  At $75 per hour,
>>>> > that could get very eenxpensive in a hurry.  Jim WA6EKS
>>>> >
>>>> > ----- Original Message -----
>>>> > From: KK4AHX Darren Duff <[log in to unmask]
>>>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> > Date sent: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 13:30:44 -0500
>>>> > Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> > Hi.
>>>> >
>>>> > Great to hear you got your rig up and talking again.  I would
>>>> > like to know
>>>> > what the folks over at kenwood tell you.  I am really enjoying
>>>> > my
>>>> > tmv71a as
>>>> > well.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > 73.
>>>> > Darren Duff.
>>>> > amateur radio station KK4AHX.
>>>> >
>>>> > Vice President,
>>>> > Cherokee Amateur Radio Society.
>>>> > http://www.cherokeehams.com
>>>> >
>>>> > Cherokee County ARES.
>>>> > http://www.cherokee-ares.org
>>>> >
>>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>>> > From: For blind ham radio operators
>>>> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>>> > On Behalf Of Jim Gammon
>>>> > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 12:38 PM
>>>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> > Subject: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working
>>>> >
>>>> > Hi list, just wanted to give you a foblow up about the Vgs-1
>>>> > chip.  I got a
>>>> > new one from HRO yesterday, installed it and the rig started
>>>> > talking again.
>>>> > Now I think I will take the old chip, dip it some salsa and eat
>>>> > it.  No, on
>>>> > second thought if I did that, I may stop talking just like it
>>>> > did! Sorry to
>>>> > Bob who I sent a similar message to last night thinking it would
>>>> > go to the
>>>> > list.  I plan to call Kenwood and ask them there thoughts about
>>>> > why a chip
>>>> > would just quit after working fine for more than two years.  Jim
>>>> > WA6EKS
>>>> >
>