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Re: FS RACAL KAYNARD FIELD STATION PORTABLE HF COMMS SYSTEM
开云体育Hello Jeff, Are you able to pack them and send it overseas ? i.e EU ? 73 Alain f4gny Le 24/09/2019 à 11:05,
jeff.akines@... [Racal-manpacks] a écrit?:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3
I will get to test the radio in the field this Saturday night.
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We are forming electrolyte in a large battery installation over the weekend and it needs attended monitoring as it is a remote site with large generator running. Being engineering lead I take any shifts that can't be filled so I get Saturday night 10 pm through Sunday morning 5 am. I am going to take advantage of the remoteness and lack of residential RFI to set up a nice high dipole and play with various pack sets including the Syncal 2000 units. Let's see who I can talk to! Peter KB2VTL On 9/20/2019 6:52 PM, W2HX w2hx@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3
开云体育The AGC problem, which I cannot duplicate now, is in the other radio.?I did test both radios for EMI susceptibility. Both unreactive to HF and VHF, both affected by very close operation of UHF 5 watt portable.? Peter On Sep 20, 2019, at 6:52 PM, W2HX w2hx@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3
开云体育Is this the agc problem or the lock tone problem? For the agc problem, is it possible that the original LCD display had screening or better RF shielding than your replacement LCD? Maybe RF is getting in through that way?
Sent from
From: "hpnpilot@... [Racal-manpacks]"
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2019 10:13 PM To: Racal-manpacks@... Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3 ?
Nothing I can do on the bench will duplicate the problem I had.? The most I see is some slightly increased receive audio distortion at receiver signal levels over around 0 dBm.? It wasn't much worse at +13 dBm and I'm pretty sure that on 60m with a whip
the receiver wasn't getting that much from a station over 1/4 mile away at 100 watts SSB.
I'm going to have to bring this on another outing to see if I can duplicate the problem in the field.
Peter
KB2VTL
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3
Nothing I can do on the bench will duplicate the problem I had.? The most I see is some slightly increased receive audio distortion at receiver signal levels over around 0 dBm.? It wasn't much worse at +13 dBm and I'm pretty sure that on 60m with a whip the receiver wasn't getting that much from a station over 1/4 mile away at 100 watts SSB. I'm going to have to bring this on another outing to see if I can duplicate the problem in the field. Peter KB2VTL |
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 3
This chapter will end with a "to be continued."
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I decided to swap CPU (controller) boards between my radios.? The warning tone went away.? So I swapped back and printed schematics to do some tracing, but now with original board back the warning tone was gone! All sorts of wiggling, cold spray, hot air gun, nothing would cause it to return. So, I will have to wait for this fault to return before proceeding. At least I have a starting point.? I tweaked the reference oscillator and closed it up.? Rechecked and all is fine, returning to service. Now, on to the other radio with the weird AGC issue. No troubleshooting but here's the issue:? on the bench, it works fine.? On an antenna, it receives fine as well, but in a field day operation with stations 1/4 mile or so away, receive audio is really distorted and low, so bad it is unusable.? Back on the bench I can +10 dBm into the thing and it is fine.? Transmit is always fine. Maybe I need to try more than +10 dBm?? Or am I missing something? It seems like an AGC problem where too much signal is getting into the DSP.? I'd like to find and resolve this.? There is an adjustment procedure but it is very difficult without extender cables for the board. This will be the subject of my next installment. These really are nice little transceivers. Peter On 9/18/2019 3:13 AM, 'badzw@...' badzw@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
开云体育Rather than a collection of status lines, this design uses a two wire data bus (IIC) along with port expander chips to get status from each module. So there is no specific pin on the CPU which could have a permanent on condition.?Since replacing the entire synthesizer module with a known good one does not fix the problem the problem is not with the input.? There is no synthesizer OOL condition and the only effect is the audio tone alarm; otherwise the transceiver seems just fine.? Peter On Sep 18, 2019, at 3:13 AM, 'badzw@...' badzw@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
开云体育Peter - at Repair Technology we specialise in repairing and servicing all Racal Tacticom products.If you need a working Syncal 2000 to isolate your fault, please send me your address and I’ll loan you one to use for substitution. We have over Qty x 100 in stock. If you want it, you must pay the shipping costs. My email address is: Mit freundlichen Grussen, USW. On 18 Sep 2019, at 08:55, Stuart Mckinnon Stuartjmckinnon@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
Wal
Please write me directly
Thanks
Stuart
G0TBI
stuartjmckinnon@...
-----Original Message----- From: 'badzw@...' badzw@... [Racal-manpacks] To: Racal-manpacks Sent: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 8:13 Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
?
Hi,
If its the CPU itself generating the Hi-Lo tone irrespective of the synthesizer OOL state then It would appear that the CPU may have a permanent 'on' signal on the CPU input pin which monitors for OOL.. Have you checked for this condition? If this condition exists, then work backwards from the cpu until the 'on' signal disappears. It could be that a transistor or i.c. switch may be s/c and need replacing. Wal. G4CGF ------ Original Message ------ From: "Peter Gottlieb hpnpilot@... [Racal-manpacks]" To: Racal-manpacks@... Sent: Tuesday, 17 Sep, 2019 At 02:51 Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2 I was finally able to get the radio to the bench. The hi-lo tone is always in the background low on receive, and loud during tune and PTT.? According to the manual this is indeed the synthesizer out of lock. I tested with heat and cold but it is now quite solidly on and insensitive to temperature.? I guess that's helpful. On the synthesizer board there are two out of lock (OOL) indications, OOL1 and OOL2.? Each goes to an I/O expander on the SPI bus.? They also are both or'ed from a different point in the circuit to disable the transmitter. The transmitter is not disabled, indicating the there is no OOL condition. Both OOL signals show false at the I/O expander chip. All self tests pass, and the manual states that self test checks for an OOL condition. Receive seems ok and transmit puts out a good modulated signal. I am thinking that: 1)? Transmitter enabled, receive and transmit good, and both OOL signals false indicate there is no synthesizer unlock condition present, 2)? Since self-test isn't seeing this problem, the I/O expander is good and the control processor isn't seeing this fault. That leads me to the tone generation circuits as a possible problem, falsely indicating a fault when there is none. Further analysis in that direction will be for Chapter 3. Peter KB2VTL On 8/30/2019 8:50 AM, M0ORE m0ore@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote: > > Did you check the supply voltage at source i.e. battery terminals or > actually at rig. Might be a significant voltage drop due to leads not > thick enough or a poor connection. > > On 30/08/2019 13:24, Scott Dorsey kludge@... [Racal-manpacks] > wrote: >> >> Synthesizer is out of lock. Look for bad decoupling capacitors which >> might >> be fine in an air conditioned shop but will go out of spec in the hot >> sun. >> --scott >> > ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ Yahoo Groups Links |
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
Hi,
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If its the CPU itself generating the Hi-Lo tone irrespective of the synthesizer OOL state then It would appear that the CPU may have a permanent 'on' signal on the CPU input pin which monitors for OOL. Have you checked for this condition? If this condition exists, then work backwards from the cpu until the 'on' signal disappears. It could be that a transistor or i.c. switch may be s/c and need replacing. Wal. G4CGF ------ Original Message ------
From: "Peter Gottlieb hpnpilot@... [Racal-manpacks]" <Racal-manpacks@...> To: Racal-manpacks@... Sent: Tuesday, 17 Sep, 2019 At 02:51 Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2 I was finally able to get the radio to the bench. The hi-lo tone is always in the background low on receive, and loud during tune and PTT.? According to the manual this is indeed the synthesizer out of lock. I tested with heat and cold but it is now quite solidly on and insensitive to temperature.? I guess that's helpful. On the synthesizer board there are two out of lock (OOL) indications, OOL1 and OOL2.? Each goes to an I/O expander on the SPI bus.? They also are both or'ed from a different point in the circuit to disable the transmitter. The transmitter is not disabled, indicating the there is no OOL condition. Both OOL signals show false at the I/O expander chip. All self tests pass, and the manual states that self test checks for an OOL condition. Receive seems ok and transmit puts out a good modulated signal. I am thinking that: 1)? Transmitter enabled, receive and transmit good, and both OOL signals false indicate there is no synthesizer unlock condition present, 2)? Since self-test isn't seeing this problem, the I/O expander is good and the control processor isn't seeing this fault. That leads me to the tone generation circuits as a possible problem, falsely indicating a fault when there is none. Further analysis in that direction will be for Chapter 3. Peter KB2VTL On 8/30/2019 8:50 AM, M0ORE m0ore@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2A
I have two of these radios. Both came with cracked LCD cover plastic and missing segments. One of them I converted to a new dot matrix LCD with high strength glass in front of it. That rather involved project is covered in my (rarely used) blog. I use the converted one as it has a nicer display and also because the other one has what I think is an AGC adjustment issue where at certain signal levels on receive it badly distorts.
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The point is that with a second radio I could do some module swaps to help troubleshoot. Since the indication is that of a synthesizer unlock, despite not seeing those status lines set, I decided to swap synthesizer boards. Sure enough, either board in this radio gives the background hi-lo tone and either board in the other radio does not. Conclusion: the problem is not in the synthesizer. This is in line with my reasoning in the previous post. However, this does not jibe with the description of the tone generation in the manual, and the schematic. The tones are generated in the processor and go to two audio switches. The first determines whether the tones generated go to the handset or for use in the BITE routines. The second selects the tone attenuation when going to the handset. There is no switching following this. If no tones are intended then the processor should not be creating them or they will be heard. The hi-low alternating tone is solely intended to indicate the synthesizer is unlocked, yet it is not, and if the processor thought it was then I would see a fault code during self test, which I do not. This is a mystery. Next troubleshooting session I will try swapping processor boards with the other radio to verify the tones are associated with the processor board and not something else I missed in the radio. This will also give me the chance to look at the tone test points on the two boards. Something here doesn't make sense. Stay tuned. Peter KB2VTL On 9/16/2019 10:02 PM, W2HX w2hx@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
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Re: Digest Number 1844
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From: Racal-manpacks@... <Racal-manpacks@...> on behalf of Mike M1CCF@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2019 2:35 AM To: Racal-manpacks@... Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Digest Number 1844 ?
?
Following the discussion on the Syncal 2000, can anybody help me with:
1.? Technical manual - not user handbook 2. A pin out of the 7 pin output to the AAMTU?? (How many of the pins are used?)
Thanks
Mike On 17/09/2019 05:01,
Racal-manpacks@... wrote:
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Re: Digest Number 1844
Mike
开云体育Following the discussion on the Syncal 2000, can anybody help me with:
1.? Technical manual - not user handbook 2. A pin out of the 7 pin output to the AAMTU?? (How many of the pins are used?)
Thanks
Mike On 17/09/2019 05:01,
Racal-manpacks@... wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
I agree with your analysis to check the circuit that injects the error tone into the audio, perhaps it is being falsely triggered.
________________________________________ From: Racal-manpacks@... <Racal-manpacks@...> on behalf of Peter Gottlieb hpnpilot@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2019 9:51 PM To: Racal-manpacks@... Subject: Re: [Racal-manpacks] Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2 I was finally able to get the radio to the bench. The hi-lo tone is always in the background low on receive, and loud during tune and PTT. According to the manual this is indeed the synthesizer out of lock. I tested with heat and cold but it is now quite solidly on and insensitive to temperature. I guess that's helpful. On the synthesizer board there are two out of lock (OOL) indications, OOL1 and OOL2. Each goes to an I/O expander on the SPI bus. They also are both or'ed from a different point in the circuit to disable the transmitter. The transmitter is not disabled, indicating the there is no OOL condition. Both OOL signals show false at the I/O expander chip. All self tests pass, and the manual states that self test checks for an OOL condition. Receive seems ok and transmit puts out a good modulated signal. I am thinking that: 1) Transmitter enabled, receive and transmit good, and both OOL signals false indicate there is no synthesizer unlock condition present, 2) Since self-test isn't seeing this problem, the I/O expander is good and the control processor isn't seeing this fault. That leads me to the tone generation circuits as a possible problem, falsely indicating a fault when there is none. Further analysis in that direction will be for Chapter 3. Peter KB2VTL On 8/30/2019 8:50 AM, M0ORE m0ore@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ Yahoo Groups Links |
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000 - Chapter 2
I was finally able to get the radio to the bench.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
The hi-lo tone is always in the background low on receive, and loud during tune and PTT. According to the manual this is indeed the synthesizer out of lock. I tested with heat and cold but it is now quite solidly on and insensitive to temperature. I guess that's helpful. On the synthesizer board there are two out of lock (OOL) indications, OOL1 and OOL2. Each goes to an I/O expander on the SPI bus. They also are both or'ed from a different point in the circuit to disable the transmitter. The transmitter is not disabled, indicating the there is no OOL condition. Both OOL signals show false at the I/O expander chip. All self tests pass, and the manual states that self test checks for an OOL condition. Receive seems ok and transmit puts out a good modulated signal. I am thinking that: 1) Transmitter enabled, receive and transmit good, and both OOL signals false indicate there is no synthesizer unlock condition present, 2) Since self-test isn't seeing this problem, the I/O expander is good and the control processor isn't seeing this fault. That leads me to the tone generation circuits as a possible problem, falsely indicating a fault when there is none. Further analysis in that direction will be for Chapter 3. Peter KB2VTL On 8/30/2019 8:50 AM, M0ORE m0ore@... [Racal-manpacks] wrote:
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Wanted: BC-778 Gibson Girl transmitter
My local Museum of The Broads, at which I am a volunteer, has one of only two (we believe) completely restored Airborne Lifeboats in the UK. The boat has a strong connection to The Broads, since many were built at Herbert Woods boatyard at Potter Heigham, and when sold off as Government Surplus after WW2 many went on to have successful racing careers on The Broads? -? to those of you with a boating or yachting background, if I mention that the original designer was Uffa Fox, you will understand the heritage. The boat is displayed with models of the various aircraft types which dropped it, along with an interactive video display of an actual rescue involving a crashed USAAC B-17 in the North Sea, and in which the crew were successfully rescued due to the use of a Gibson Girl. We now have the correct antenna box kite, kite container, signal lamp and a few other accessories which are all about to be added to the displayed boat, but what we still lack is the BC-778 Gibson Girl transmitter itself.? Could I ask members to check their attics, etc, and see if they still have one that they might like to part with? The Museum is a registered charity and so funds are extremely limited, so anyone who might like to donate would be particularly welcomed!? Best regards,? Bob, G8IYK |
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000
开云体育My display reports the voltage as measured internally and I’m using the pack directly connected to the radio so there is minimal drop. The lithium cells hold a good voltage throughout discharge, which is nice.?Peter On Aug 30, 2019, at 8:50 AM, M0ORE m0ore@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> wrote:
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Re: Question on Syncal 2000
开云体育Thank you. It must be something right on the edge of operation as receive works fine on all frequencies despite the warning tone. I will look for marginal decoupling caps. I will also warm up the set and see if it is temperature dependent, which is then convenient for troubleshooting using freeze spray.?Peter On Aug 30, 2019, at 8:24 AM, Scott Dorsey kludge@... [Racal-manpacks] <Racal-manpacks@...> wrote:
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