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Just fought a huge battle with a clients FT726R radio.
According to my contacts, this thing is old, more than 20 years.
What a bitch.
This thing is so old, the OEM PL system is a set and forget for a single tone.
Not useful for this part of Virginia and West Virginia.
Added an external PL encoder box
That was tied into the OEM tone system.
Worked fairly well.
Had to fix a frequency error problem on the UHF module.
Found the master osc had drifted a good bit.
Dialed it in so that it matched the service monitor.
Now they track.
The HF module had piss poor RX. TX was good.
The problem was a weak RX path in the TX/RX relay.
I tried exercising it.
No change.
I tried burnishing the contacts.
No change.
Had to 'sub in' something I could get from Radio Shack
It did not want to fit.
I was not taking no for an answer.
A hand full of jumper wires later it's working.
Now it's fairly good.
Next step is the amplifiers the client sent along.
VHF, UHF, and six meters.
Seems he thought he purchased a 6M module for the radio, and when I un wrapped it, it was an HF module.
Surprise.
May have to scare up a high quality CB brick for him.
The module makes about 10 watts. The other bricks are in the 100 to 150 watt range. Must keep up appearances.
In other news...
Picked up an Astron 70 amp from the ham radio store.
Want to finish that this week, bring it back on Saturday for some money.
May get another one from the local ham radio club.
It's been flakey in repeater service. Suspect RF is tripping the OVP.
Personal issues.
It's been an expensive week so far.
About 60 cars on the block had their glass broken during a weather event that blew through.
I lost some of the glass on my three.
Got the glass fixed on my black Scion TC today.
Windshield, driver side, and driver side rear.
Joannes Prius came to just under $500
Windshield, and drivers side rear.
The TC was about $650, those were insured with a 500 buck deductible.
Saturday the Prius goes to the body shop for an inspection of the broken antenna, washer squirt nozzle, and a crack in a body panel.
The truck came to about $170, that was all out of pocket.
Not insured.
It's real nice to have the glass back.
That is the news of the day.
Jack Crow
Just fought a huge battle with a clients FT726R radio.
According to my contacts, this thing is old, more than 20 years.
What a bitch.
This thing is so old, the OEM PL system is a set and forget for a single tone.
Not useful for this part of Virginia and West Virginia.
Added an external PL encoder box
That was tied into the OEM tone system.
Worked fairly well.
Had to fix a frequency error problem on the UHF module.
Found the master osc had drifted a good bit.
Dialed it in so that it matched the service monitor.
Now they track.
The HF module had piss poor RX. TX was good.
The problem was a weak RX path in the TX/RX relay.
I tried exercising it.
No change.
I tried burnishing the contacts.
No change.
Had to 'sub in' something I could get from Radio Shack
It did not want to fit.
I was not taking no for an answer.
A hand full of jumper wires later it's working.
Now it's fairly good.
Next step is the amplifiers the client sent along.
VHF, UHF, and six meters.
Seems he thought he purchased a 6M module for the radio, and when I un wrapped it, it was an HF module.
Surprise.
May have to scare up a high quality CB brick for him.
The module makes about 10 watts. The other bricks are in the 100 to 150 watt range. Must keep up appearances.
In other news...
Picked up an Astron 70 amp from the ham radio store.
Want to finish that this week, bring it back on Saturday for some money.
May get another one from the local ham radio club.
It's been flakey in repeater service. Suspect RF is tripping the OVP.
Personal issues.
It's been an expensive week so far.
About 60 cars on the block had their glass broken during a weather event that blew through.
I lost some of the glass on my three.
Got the glass fixed on my black Scion TC today.
Windshield, driver side, and driver side rear.
Joannes Prius came to just under $500
Windshield, and drivers side rear.
The TC was about $650, those were insured with a 500 buck deductible.
Saturday the Prius goes to the body shop for an inspection of the broken antenna, washer squirt nozzle, and a crack in a body panel.
The truck came to about $170, that was all out of pocket.
Not insured.
It's real nice to have the glass back.
That is the news of the day.
Jack Crow
