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
>> >
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