Re: [Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level??
At 08:42 PM 04/08/07, you wrote: Hi Guys. What is the power output of the UHF Micor (VHF really) exciter BEFORE the 1st bandpass filter? What about AFTER the 1st bandpass filter? I have the manuals, and I know what they say, but I am looking for some real world data. I have got to be doing something wrong or all of my spare parts have gone south on the shelf. I am not at my wits end but I can see that it isn't too far away. Here is our story. We had this 75 watt UHF Micor repeater donated to us. The PA was bad. The fellow said that's it, I ain't fixing this thing again.We thought we would fix it, tune it on a new channel, and donate it to a fellow that is in need of new hardware. The PA was bad, I discovered that all of my spares were junk, or near junk. Then, the tripler takes a dump, replaced that... 1.7 watts out of the tripler, now we are getting somewhere. I go and hookup the controller, intermittent COS... cracked backplane solder joint, fixed that. Assuming you have the controller hooked up properly, and the station modded properly, I'd assume that if you have one cracked joint you may have more. I'd redo EVERY receiver and exciter joint, starting with Keyed voltages (i.e. Keyed A-). Yes, it's going to be a very boring hour or two, but put some good music on the CD or MP3 player in the shop and get a large mug of your favorite beverage and start melting solder... Large 52 oz mug on my very messy bench: http://www.repeater-builder.com/wa6ilq/big-mug.jpg I picked that up at a 7-11 about 5 years ago... and they now make a 64oz mug... Been there, done that... had to resolder every pin in a Micor station backplane where that slot was occupied.. the receiver, exciter, station control card, squelch gate card, and single-tone card (that slot was being used to hold a 4-tone Pl decoder card). The station had a Scom 7K controlling it. A day has passed, and now I have no output, again. I backtrack and find only 10-15 milliwatts out of the exciter direct, less out of the 1st filter. I have tried two other exciters, on the original channel elements, one is dead, and the other has only 10 milliwatts out. How did Charlie Brown put it??? AGGGH Don't make any assumptions until you are sure that the test bed (i.e.the unified chassis) is solid. Until I did the resoldering that station was very intermittent. The station was sitting on a hardwood floor, and you could walk past that station and it would drop out, or have rattling audio, or work normally until I spent one saturday morning resoldering those slots... Read the checklist - http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/checklist.html and the line Locating and fixing the intermittent that only shows up at 4am on sundays during a full moon... that station was the inspiration for that line... Am I missing something. Perhaps I have been messing with the GE stuff too long. Thanks in advance.John Mike WA6ILQ
[Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level??
Hi Guys. What is the power output of the UHF Micor (VHF really) exciter BEFORE the 1st bandpass filter? What about AFTER the 1st bandpass filter? I have the manuals, and I know what they say, but I am looking for some real world data. I have got to be doing something wrong or all of my spare parts have gone south on the shelf. I am not at my wits end but I can see that it isn't too far away. Here is our story. We had this 75 watt UHF Micor repeater donated to us. The PA was bad. The fellow said that's it, I ain't fixing this thing again.We thought we would fix it, tune it on a new channel, and donate it to a fellow that is in need of new hardware. The PA was bad, I discovered that all of my spares were junk, or near junk. Then, the tripler takes a dump, replaced that... 1.7 watts out of the tripler, now we are getting somewhere. I go and hookup the controller, intermittent COS... cracked backplane solder joint, fixed that. A day has passed, and now I have no output, again. I backtrack and find only 10-15 milliwatts out of the exciter direct, less out of the 1st filter. I have tried two other exciters, on the original channel elements, one is dead, and the other has only 10 milliwatts out. How did Charlie Brown put it??? AGGGH Am I missing something. Perhaps I have been messing with the GE stuff too long. Thanks in advance.John
Re: [Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level??
One further thing: these are subject to intermittent pins connecting the back plane to the exciter interconnect board.. I have fixed many of these with excessive voltage drops on the exciter final 12 volt line pin, and the line connecting the 12 volts to the tripler.. also check the small plug that connects the tripler to the interconnect board.. another great piece of engineering! lance N2HBA - Original Message - From: John Everson To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 10:42 PM Subject: [Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level?? Hi Guys. What is the power output of the UHF Micor (VHF really) exciter BEFORE the 1st bandpass filter? What about AFTER the 1st bandpass filter? I have the manuals, and I know what they say, but I am looking for some real world data. I have got to be doing something wrong or all of my spare parts have gone south on the shelf. I am not at my wits end but I can see that it isn't too far away. Here is our story. We had this 75 watt UHF Micor repeater donated to us. The PA was bad. The fellow said that's it, I ain't fixing this thing again.We thought we would fix it, tune it on a new channel, and donate it to a fellow that is in need of new hardware. The PA was bad, I discovered that all of my spares were junk, or near junk. Then, the tripler takes a dump, replaced that... 1.7 watts out of the tripler, now we are getting somewhere. I go and hookup the controller, intermittent COS... cracked backplane solder joint, fixed that. A day has passed, and now I have no output, again. I backtrack and find only 10-15 milliwatts out of the exciter direct, less out of the 1st filter. I have tried two other exciters, on the original channel elements, one is dead, and the other has only 10 milliwatts out. How did Charlie Brown put it??? AGGGH Am I missing something. Perhaps I have been messing with the GE stuff too long. Thanks in advance. John
Re: [Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level??
The exciter board makes about 500 mw, the tripler makes anywhere from 1.4 to 2.2watts, frequency dependant. - Original Message - From: John Everson To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 10:42 PM Subject: [Repeater-Builder] UHF Micor Exciter Output Level?? Hi Guys. What is the power output of the UHF Micor (VHF really) exciter BEFORE the 1st bandpass filter? What about AFTER the 1st bandpass filter? I have the manuals, and I know what they say, but I am looking for some real world data. I have got to be doing something wrong or all of my spare parts have gone south on the shelf. I am not at my wits end but I can see that it isn't too far away. Here is our story. We had this 75 watt UHF Micor repeater donated to us. The PA was bad. The fellow said that's it, I ain't fixing this thing again.We thought we would fix it, tune it on a new channel, and donate it to a fellow that is in need of new hardware. The PA was bad, I discovered that all of my spares were junk, or near junk. Then, the tripler takes a dump, replaced that... 1.7 watts out of the tripler, now we are getting somewhere. I go and hookup the controller, intermittent COS... cracked backplane solder joint, fixed that. A day has passed, and now I have no output, again. I backtrack and find only 10-15 milliwatts out of the exciter direct, less out of the 1st filter. I have tried two other exciters, on the original channel elements, one is dead, and the other has only 10 milliwatts out. How did Charlie Brown put it??? AGGGH Am I missing something. Perhaps I have been messing with the GE stuff too long. Thanks in advance. John
