At 12:12 AM 04/09/07, you wrote: >--- In [email protected], Mike Morris WA6ILQ ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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. > > > > > > 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... > > > > Mike WA6ILQ > > > >Hi Mike. > >First of all, How did you get a picture of my bench???? Actually, my >mug is smaller, but my bench also has the optional empty Triscut box. > >I followed one of the sets of instructions from RBTIP. I thought that >it would be easier to use the "no cards except the station control >module mod" due to the fact that the docs were there, it was simple, >and I was handing this off to another Ham who will have to maintain >the thing. I was thinking K.I.S.S. The controller works as it should, >things just went downhill when I realized that the output was gone. >It was weak even for a dummy load. > >With regard to the backplane. I am half done with the re-flow. I'll >finish the rest later. I found one bad joint at the COS point, I am >sure that the others aren't far behind. I am not going to drag this >thing a hundred miles to hang it in the rack just to have it take a >dump on the hill. Been there. Theres nothing like being on Donner >Summit modding a GE MVP Squelch Board with a butane soldering iron in >high winds. > >Well, at least now with the temporary mock-up, I have about 2 watts >out of the tripler. Things are looking up. > >Time for bed. Work comes early. Thanks for the response. > >73 de John
Watch that tripler / low-level amp - they are somewhat fragile electrically, and Moto isn't making any more of them. While this article is for the mobile, it's worth reading: <http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/micorlla.html> Lowering the voltage sounds like a good idea as long as you have enough drive... This is for the station: <http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/micoruhftripler.html> Dunno if the station has the "headroom" that the mobile does. Mike WA6ILQ
