Mirage C106

[KE7IHG]

I went to Rickreel swapmeet yesterday....First time for me.

Saw some folk's I know....met Bruce KI7JA . My darn shoulder kind of put a damper on the day, it got to hurting pretty good after while.

I bought a Mirage C106  220mhz 10in 60out 

I tried to see if MFJ had any info on it but of course they do not.(I'm sure this was pre MFJ)

I'm interested in line keying it. I think it has a 6 pin plug in the back but need to know the pinout's

 Steve/KE7IHG

[kd7ts]

Hi Steve,

The vintage of the amp is important. Newer models have an 8 pin molex and an RCA jack. The RCA jack is grounded for transmit. These models have surface mount transistors and comparators in the logic circuits.

Older models are all discrete transistors or darlington types.

There are a few screws you may remove to view the insides without disturbing anything. If you look at it, near the back, you should be able to trace the keying.

Alternatively, if you power it up from a small, (low current) supply, you can find the connection by trial. Measure the voltage on each pin, and make a note. If it is a positive voltage, take it to ground through a 5K resistor. If there is no voltage, take it to +12 through a 5 K resistor. The resistor size is not critical, but needs to limit the current that can be drawn. Maybe 10K would work, or 2K.

By turning on the preamp switch you will get an indication of when it switches. The preamp LED will go dark in transmit.

DO NOT put any RF into this while testing. A 2 or 3 amp supply is adequate for this test. Do not connect this to a high current supply or battery. Having low current available limits the possibilities. If you can't make these tests with a 2 or 3 amp supply, it's broken.

So, first look for an RCA jack. If there is one, then use it.

Mike KD7TS

I have successfully used this method to figure out RF Concepts, Mirage, KLM and TE Systems control circuits.

[KE7IHG]

Thanks Mike

 Gives me a starting point....I'll have to find a low amperage power supply  My Astron RS 70m might be a little much.:-)

I do have a couple of 12 v wall warts

Steve

 

[KE7IHG]

Here's the back of the amp

 

[Jerry]

Steve.. try www.mods.dk or some site, where you can possibly find a
similar vintage Amp..like a B106 or ? Should have the same pin-outs on
one of them and I am sure the 2M version should be more popular..so
easier to find manual for one of them ! GL
Jerry
VE6CPP

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[Bruce Junkin]

Hi Steve,

 

Nice to meet you at the Rickreal Hamfest.  As far as the amp goes, everything I can find from looking at schematics of various models of various vintages of Mirage amps, the remote connector (6 pin molex) does not usually have the PTT on it.  The Remote connecctor only has PWR ON/OFF, FM/SSB/, PRE-AMP ON/OFF, and GROUND

 

Usually, there is either an RCA jack, or an 1/8” phono jack for the PTT.  I cannot find anything where the PTT was brought out, unless it was added by the user.  I don’t see any RCA jack or 1/8” phono plug on the back of your amp.. If you are using the amp on FM only, n, the carrier would key the amp in vox mode.  When you release the mic button, the carrier would drop, and un-key the amp.  Sorry, not the info you wanted to hear.

 

 

 

Bruce, KI7JA

--

[Edward R Cole]

Steve,

Been idly reading the mail on this.

I recently sold a Mirage B108 (brown case) 2m amp and it had a RCA-phono jack for PTT, which your amp seems not to have.  This means it only switches with RF sensing.  If it has a switch for SSB/FM there will be a wire from the switch to the molex connector (on mine I think is was yellow but you should look for your self).  The switch changes the TR delay time:  SSB is delayed to reduce relay chatter; FM has no delay.  This wire will be of no use to control TR but should get you looking at the right area of the pc board.

If you look at the circuit there will be a couple transistors and a diode and a trim-pot.  The pot sets the delay time.  You should be able to find the pc trace or wire that connects to the relay coil.  One side of the coil will have 12v and the other is grounded.  My guess that the ground side of the TR relay goes to one of the transistors in the RF sense ckt.  You could just attach a wire there to go outside the amplifier to control TR operation by grounding the wire.  That should not hurt anything in the sensing ckt.

But be sure you find the ground side of the coil and do not try grounding +12v else you blow fuses!

73, Ed - KL7UW

At 03:18 PM 2/16/2014, Bruce Junkin wrote:

Hi Steve,
 
Nice to meet you at the Rickreal Hamfest.  As far as the amp goes, everything I can find from looking at schematics of various models of various vintages of Mirage amps, the remote connector (6 pin molex) does not usually have the PTT on it.  The Remote connecctor only has PWR ON/OFF, FM/SSB/, PRE-AMP ON/OFF, and GROUND
 

Usually, there is either an RCA jack, or an 1/8†phono jack for the PTT.  I cannot find anything where the PTT was brought out, unless it was added by the user.  I don’t see any RCA jack or 1/8†phono plug on the back of your amp.. If you are using the amp on FM only, n, the carrier would key the amp in vox mode.  When you release the mic button, the carrier would drop, and un-key the amp.  Sorry, not the info you wanted to hear.

 
 
 
Bruce, KI7JA
 
From: KE7IHG
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 12:02 PM
To: pnw...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [PNWVHFS] Re: Mirage C106
 

Here's the back of the amp

 

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73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
    "Kits made by KL7UW"
Dubus Mag business:
    dubu...@gmail.com

[Darryl Holman]

There was a review of the C-106 in QST, March, 1983.  The review suggests that the C-106 is nearly identical to the 2m B-108 amplifier, and says the two amplifiers have identical features.  If the amp did go through several production changes that resulted in new schematics, it might be easiest to trace in the B-108 lineage (as Jerry suggested).  Somebody probably has a whole fan web site dedicated to history of and changes to the B-108 amplifier....  

Here is a copy of the manual for an old version of the B-108  amplifier--perhaps the same vintage as your C-106. 
http://www.k7jrl.com/pub/manuals/mirage/b108/Mirage%20B-108%202M%20Amp.pdf

The manual says that pin 1 of the 3-pin power connector is for RF switching.  Check that first. 

If this isn't the case for your amp, perhaps you can get enough out of the B-108 schematic to figure out how keying is done in the C-106.

The 6 pin Molex connector is for the remote head, the Mirage RC-1.    The schematic of the wiring is included in the manual and it doesn't look like the 6 pin connector is involved in any way with RF switching.  So it is probably on the 3 pin power connector.

And, if you are interested, a pdf manual for the RC-1 can be found here:  http://r-onetrading.com/download/mirage/RC-1.pdf


Best,
  Darryl
  ww7d

 




On 02/16/2014 12:02 PM, KE7IHG wrote:

Here's the back of the amp

 

--

[Edward R Cole]

OK, being able to look at the schematic it is as I described in my former e-mail except that pin-1 of the 3 pin power plug is used for PTT-low.  Note the wire runs from pin-1 to the collector of a MPS222 (essentially equivalent to a 2N222) and grounds RLY-1 thru diode 1N4002. 

my B108 had the power plug removed and power wiring went directly inside the amplifier.  I am probably mistaken about the RCA-phono connector that I mentioned in the earlier e-mail.\
One can add a wire to the MPS222/IN4002 junction to add external PTT-low if it is not installed on the power plug, pin-1.  If it were my amp I would install a RCA-phono plug wired as such if not done on the power plug.

73, Ed - KL7UW

At 08:52 PM 2/16/2014, Darryl Holman wrote:

There was a review of the C-106 in QST, March, 1983.  The review suggests that the C-106 is nearly identical to the 2m B-108 amplifier, and says the two amplifiers have identical features.  If the amp did go through several production changes that resulted in new schematics, it might be easiest to trace in the B-108 lineage (as Jerry suggested).  Somebody probably has a whole fan web site dedicated to history of and changes to the B-108 amplifier....  

Here is a copy of the manual for an old version of the B-108  amplifier--perhaps the same vintage as your C-106. 
http://www.k7jrl.com/pub/manuals/mirage/b108/Mirage%20B-108%202M%20Amp.pdf

The manual says that pin 1 of the 3-pin power connector is for RF switching.  Check that first. 

If this isn't the case for your amp, perhaps you can get enough out of the B-108 schematic to figure out how keying is done in the C-106.

The 6 pin Molex connector is for the remote head, the Mirage RC-1.    The schematic of the wiring is included in the manual and it doesn't look like the 6 pin connector is involved in any way with RF switching.  So it is probably on the 3 pin power connector.

And, if you are interested, a pdf manual for the RC-1 can be found here:  http://r-onetrading.com/download/mirage/RC-1.pdf


Best,
  Darryl
  ww7d
Â

On 02/16/2014 12:02 PM, KE7IHG wrote:

Here's the back of the amp

Â

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73, Ed - KL7UW

[KE7IHG]

Thanks you all,

Ed- I like the adding the rca jack idea.

Steve