Kelvin:

This is a very interesting set of observations.

I do sometimes wonder what the status of the connectors is on the used 
Tentec 238A manual tuner that I purchased several years ago.

And, now that I think about it, the other night, I was doing some things 
with a dummy load in port 4 of the tuner, and it was after this when I had 
the strange TS590 behavior.

Very interesting.

Tom Behler: KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kelvin Marsh" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:26 AM
Subject: Re: Strange TS590 Behavior


> Hi Tom,
>
> OK, you've had several suggestions to check connections, and I would 
> agree.
> An old amateur once told me to check everything going into and out of a 
> rig
> first.  Not a bad idea, I guess, unless you smell smoke <big smile>.
>
> Something similar to your scenario happened to me recently.  I had
> attenuation on RX which would sometimes disappear following a short
> transmission.  All ok for a bit, and then more attenuation and high SWR. 
> I
> tracked it down to one of the inputs on the TW-1 SWR meter.  Wiggling
> thePL-259 caused the signal strength to vary.
>
> Once unplugged the cable was checked and proved to be fine.  We then took
> the lid off the TW-1, looking for a dry joint, and again all was fine.
>
> It was then spotted, under a bright light, there was some tarnishing in 
> the
> SO-239 socket itself.
>
> When you push a PL-259 plug into a SO-239, the pin of the plug is gripped 
> by
> the sides of the socket, which are sprung apart by the pin.  If the
> springiness of the socket is lost, or the pin of the plug is slightly too
> thin, a poor connection is made.
>
> I reckon there had been some arcing in my SO-239 causing the tarnishing.
>
> In my case, we scratched through the tarnish, and used a plug with a
> slightly wider pin to solved the problem.  I guess The socket might need
> replacing if it returns <smile>.
>
> With this in mind, a good check for anyone would be to unscrew the PL-259 
> on
> a plug and test how well the pin is gripped by the SO-239.  If it is 
> slack,
> get it checked.  Also, apart from checking the plug is nice and tight, I
> tend to leave connectors alone.  On the basis, lots of plugging and
> unplugging may cause unnecessary wear and tear.
>
> Out of interest, the other SO-239 on the TW-1 was bright and shiny, like
> new.
>
> Best wishes, Kelvin Marsh - M0AID
>
> Working to improve accessibility for radio amateurs with disabilities
>
> www.active-elements.org
>
> For accessibility evaluations of amateur equipment and MP3 manuals
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Tom Behler
> Sent: 24 January 2013 01:12
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Strange TS590 Behavior
>
> Hello everyone.
>
> This quiry is to all of you TS590 owners out there.
>
> Several times now, I have noticed something really strange with my TS590,
> the cause of which I can't exactly pinpoint.  In fact, it happened again
> last night.
>
> I was making some adjustments to my TS590, and suddenly, the receive
> sensitivity of the rig dropped.  In addition, I started getting some very
> weird SWR readings and output power readings as I went through the bands,
> and switched various antennas in and out.
>
> Since I had the ARCP590 software, and all of my memories and settings 
> saved
> for ready reference, I did a full re-set of the rig, hoping it would 
> correct
>
> the problem.
>
> When I was done with the re-set, the rig was still acting very strangely.
>
> So, I simply turned it off, and went to bed.
>
> This morning, I turned the rig back on, and everything was fine, as if
> nothing ever happened.
>
> My theory is that something is tripping some sort of circuit protection
> system in the rig, and that, once the rig is idle, things somehow re-set
> themselves.
>
> Again, I can't say for sure what I was doing that created the problem to
> begin with, but it didn't seem to be anything too significant.
>
> I'm just curious as to whether anyone else has had this sort of thing 
> happen
>
> to them.
>
> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>
>
>
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