TS-430 problem T/R relay?
Dale Mosby
I have a Kenwood TS-430 which has recently developed a problem. Often
when I unkey the mic the recieved audio is very weak. Hitting the PTT
again once or twice returns the audio to normal. A friend mentioned
that this was a "well known" problem. Anyone heard of this and know of
a simple fix. Time is scarce before Field Day, but if there is a simple
fix I would like the radio as a backup on Field Day.
Thanks. Dale, N7PEX.
da...@sequent.com OR uunet!sequent!dale
Dale Mosby 503-578-9842 N7PEX // Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
15450 SW Koll Parkway // Beaverton, Or. 97006-6063
--
da...@sequent.com OR uunet!sequent!dale
Dale Mosby 503-578-9842 N7PEX // Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
15450 SW Koll Parkway // Beaverton, Or. 97006-6063
Fred McKenzie
Mosby) wrote:
> I have a Kenwood TS-430 which has recently developed a problem. Often
> when I unkey the mic the recieved audio is very weak. Hitting the PTT
> again once or twice returns the audio to normal. A friend mentioned
> that this was a "well known" problem. Anyone heard of this and know of
> a simple fix. Time is scarce before Field Day, but if there is a simple
> fix I would like the radio as a backup on Field Day.
Dale-
I had my TS-430 for nearly 10 years, and never had this problem. I suppose
it is one of those things that comes with old age, however.
I recall reading of a problem that may be related. The owner found that
one of the DIN connectors for use with a transverter, had an internal
switch that had developed dirty contacts. By inserting the appropriate DIN
connector several times, the contacts cleaned up, and the problem went
away. From your description, this would be a good thing to try.
73, Fred, K4DII
Stephen M Trapp
I have had a TS-430S for about 9 years, I don't use it much and haven't had
the problem but may know what. I recently called AEA about whether my T-R
time would be packet compatable, and the guy said there should be no problem,
but I should watch out for the T-R relay becomming dirty. I hope the relay
can be opened and cleaned, or replaced. It sounds like some relay at least,
and repeated wiping of the contacts brings things back to life.
73,
Steve N4DG
j.w.ague
shoots a brief voltage across the relay contacts each time you go from
xmit to receive. This has the affect of zapping the crud from the contacts.
Before you perform the mod, they have you zap with a larger voltage to
do the initial cleaning. It is an official Kenwood bulletin for their
repair centers and is available from the Kenwood bulletin board they
advertise in the Ham rags. I have it somewhere and have been meaning to
"fix" my old 430 with it - but the 430 is now a backup rig and I lost
some of the immediate motivation - I now own an 850 :-)
You may want to call Kenwood directly and ask to have the mod info shipped -
seems that I waited many months for them to ship it via the BBS ( I seem
to recall that it was listed in their index but I couldn't find it online
and had to send a message to the sysop).
Good luck...
Wes Ague - k9un
Jim Garver
>Kenwood has a "fix" for the relay problem. It amounts to making a mod which
>shoots a brief voltage across the relay contacts each time you go from
>xmit to receive. This has the affect of zapping the crud from the contacts.
>Before you perform the mod, they have you zap with a larger voltage to
>do the initial cleaning. It is an official Kenwood bulletin for their
>repair centers and is available from the Kenwood bulletin board they
>advertise in the Ham rags.
I too have this factory bulletin from Kenwood that I extracted from their
BBS a few years ago. I can elaborate a little more:
The initial "cleaning" involves connecting a 12-14 volt power supply of
suitable current capacity directly to the antenna connector but with
a current limiting resistor in series. I don't remember if its 10 ohms
or 100 ohms, probably 10. Then everything is powered up and you hold
down one of the bandswitch buttons which cycles all the relays while
the DC current "cleans" them.
To prevent further problems an internal modification provides a 12-14 Volt
momentary zap for the relay contacts whenever the bandswitch or other
tuning controls cause a different relay selection.
I myself have not tried it yet as momentarily pressing the PTT button on
the microphone always cures it for me and I guess I'm not annoyed enough
to do something about it. Now you know where static comes from. It's
all those 430 owners tapping their mic buttons to clear their relays.
WA7LDV
Morrison Charles F
you do the mod from Kenwood? Would this have helped my sporadic power drop
in the middle of an RTTY transmission? I sent the thing back to Texas
Towers and then on to Kenwood and between the two, it cost me $127. My
problem was seeing that there was no way to adjust power output, you merely
cut back on the mic gain, and i found that if i got it close to around 20W
it would just drop to 0. If i were to open up the mic gain to full, the power
out would suddenly jump to full and I could cut it back to where i wanted it,
but it would sooner or later do it again.
BTW: The "repair job" from Kenwood did NOT fix this problem.
Charlie
Charles Morrison KI5XP Internet: ki...@ki5xp.aara.org
U. of Southwestern La. Internet: cfm...@ucs.usl.edu
Lafayette, La. 70506 Packet: KI...@K5ARH.LA
(318) 988-3821
Ronald Reder
problem I had with my TS430s and which I FIXED :-)
My symptoms were that the power would drop to zero for no reason, but
would usually come back if I hit the case of the radio, especially near
the back, left side. I tried may times to find this, but the problem
went away when I opened the case and turned the radio on its side. Then
it would happen again in a few days.
I finally found out the problem was a bad connection in the co-axial
cable between the driver and the final amplifier. This cable is grey
in color and about 3mm in diameter. The end has a connector plug that
plugs into a socket on the RF printed circuit board (inside the bottom rear
of the radio, I believe). Turn off the power. Remove the top and bottom
covers from the radio. Locate the driver cable and use a small pliers to
gently remove the cable plug from the socket on the circuit board.
Examine the center pin of the plug.
On my radio the center pin was crimped to the small diameter, solid wire
that formed the center conductor of the co-axial cable. The crimp was
a little loose so the wire could move in the center pin. This caused
the problem with my radio. I carefully soldered the wire to the pin.
Then I plugged the cable back in, replaced the covers, and tried the
radio. Success!
There are several similar co-axial cables in the radio. If the driver
cable is not the problem, I suggest you check all of the similar co-axial
connectors in the radio. Perhaps one of the assembly technicians had
the wrong crimp adjustment when several of the cables were prepared?
I don't know if this is related to the original poster's problem, but I
decided to offer it just in case..
73, Ron KA1KCU