Reminds me of having to blow on the contacts in a Nintendo game cartridge to make it work in the console. ;)
On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:31 AM rich hurd WC3T <[email protected]> wrote: > I guess that’s the electronic equivalent of blowing through a tube to clear > the blockage. :) > > On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 01:44 Frederick Dwight <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Scott, > > The problem you describe is actually quite common in electronics. > In > > the telephone industry, especially in the “good old days” with wire > cables, > > sometimes with many splices it was common to get drop outs. These could > be > > due to a splice, wire wrap connection, oxidized relay contact or > whatever, > > especially with only low level signals. If the circuit also had a DC > > voltage on it, the problem often did not exist. In fact it was common on > > critical circuits for the FAA or military, or whatever to sometimes just > > put “sealing current” on certain circuits just to be sure it was > reliable. > > Often we used 24 volts DC or less with only a few ma of current. At one > > time I had many phased verticals which were controlled by many relays. > > Occasionally the received signal would drop by many S units. Sending a > > single dot, even with QRP or QRPP power always cleared the problem, > > sometimes for weeks or months. So it could be a connection in the > antenna > > system, a plug on a circuit board, or even a relay. I have never > > experienced trouble with Elecraft relays personally. Sometimes PL-259 > > center pins are not correctly soldered, and can present similar symptoms. > > You could try a random wire, or even something like an 80 meter dipole on > > 30 meters, just to see if it was anywhere in the antenna system. Even a > > volt or two is often enough to punch through a poor solder or oxidized > > connection, but even something like a 0 dBm signal is just not enough. I > > have identified problems with BNC connectors and adaptors purchased at > ham > > flea markets which are just not reliable and are probably factory > rejects. > > So look into your antenna system before you dig into your rig. You could > > also hook a signal generator to the rig and see if it receives OK on all > > bands with something like less than an S9 signal. Be sure to not > transmit > > into your generator, and/or set your tx to very low power. Good Luck > > Rick KL7CW > > > > Sent from Mail for Windows 10 > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > Message delivered to [email protected] > > -- > 72, > Rich Hurd / WC3T / DMR: 3142737 > Northampton County RACES, EPA-ARRL Public Information Officer for Scouting > Latitude: 40.761621 Longitude: -75.288988 (40°45.68' N 75°17.33' W) Grid: > *FN20is* > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to [email protected] -- -+-+-+-+- Jenny Everywhere's Infinite: Quark Time http://quarktime.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
