TS-830M_S_Survival_guide_DL9AI_2002.pdf

The HF-Transceiver H HF F- -T Tr ra an ns sc ce ei iv ve er r Kenwood TS-830 Survival Guide PART I edited by Olaf Rettkowski DL9AI 2 VERSION Kenwood TS-830 Survival Guide, ed. Olaf Rettkowski, DL9AI, ver.1.2, 03 Dec 2002 REFERENCE This is a collection of material found on the net. For reference and further information visit the following sites and/or see the following papers: http:/myweb.tiscali.co.uk/martin.atwsm/TS830S.html , Martin, G1XGX , Richard L. Measures, AG6K http:/www.mods.dk Kenwood TS-830S Operating Manual Kenwood TS-830S Service Manual 3 1 Preface .6 2 Read first !.6 3 History of this document.7 4 To-Do list .7 5 General Description.7 6 Problems and known Fixes.8 6.1 Excessive delay in relay control signal to external amplifier-which causes hot switching in the amplifiers RF relays .8 6.2 Frequency drift.8 6.3 Frequency drift during warm-up.9 6.4 TS-830S Frequency Drift - FIX switch.9 6.5 Frequency jumping.9 6.6 Intermittent shift in display and operating frequency.10 6.7 Intermittent ALC on transmit .11 6.7.1 Problem 1: Intermittent ALC indication TX on only one band.11 6.7.2 Problem 2: Intermittent ALC on transmit.11 6.8 Lack of crispness in receive audio.11 6.9 Lack of crispness in transmit audio.12 6.10 No power output on most bands.12 6.11 Noisy or intermittent front panel control potentiometers pots.12 6.12 On the AF-AVR Unit, the 4-pole relay contacts which switch the bias to the finals may fail after extensive use. .12 6.13 Peak-distortion in the RX audio .13 6.14 Poor, transmit, SSB carrier-suppression after alignment.13 6.15 Power-output falls off when the key is held down.13 6.16 Premature 12V pilot lamp burnout.13 6.17 Rapid jumps in VFO frequency.14 6.18 Receive RX signals intermittently drop roughly 40 db.14 6.19 Receiver AGC-overshoot, causing receive audio-distortion on voice-peaks and concurrent S-meter overshoot.14 6.20 Television interference with the radio transmitting into a 50 Ohm, shielded termination.14 6.21 Receive suffers or goes out after QRO modification.15 6.22 Transmitter talkback.15 7 Problems and Hints from Newsgroups.16 7.1 Beware of high voltage!.16 7.2 No sidetone when keying CW, VOX doesnt work on CW.16 7.3 Resistor replacement after grid-to-cathode short of the 6146 tubes.16 7.4 Difference between 6146B und 6146W tubes.16 7.5 Slow power drop-off.17 7.5.1 Slow power drop-off: Answer 1.17 4 7.5.2 Slow power drop-off: Answer 2.17 7.5.3 Slow power drop-off: Answer 3.17 7.5.4 Slow power drop-off: Answer 4.18 7.6 Low power output.18 7.6.1 Low power output: Answer 1.18 7.6.2 Low power output: Answer 2.18 7.6.3 Low power output: Answer 3.18 7.7 Intermittend drop of power output .19 7.8 Problem peaking Drive control .19 7.9 Intermittent loss of drive to final.19 7.10 No dip on the plate current and no or small output.20 7.11 Reducing power output to QRP-like levels, No.1.20 7.12 Reducing power output to QRP-like levels, No.2.20 7.13 Increasing power output / QRO-modification, No.1.21 7.14 Increasing power output / QRO-modification, No.2.21 7.15 Intermittent loss of audio.22 7.16 Final tubes replacement and neutralization.22 7.17 Low power output on 160 m only .22 7.18 Crystals for FIX band selection.23 7.19 Changed DRIVE setting after final tubes replacement is normal .23 7.20 Difference between TS-830 and TS-830 gold label.23 7.21 Microphone impedance matching .23 7.22 Problem with TS-830 TX relay.24 7.23 No operation on WARC bands.24 7.24 Receiver signal attenuation when keying the microphone or rocking the bandswitch .25 7.25 VOX trip problem.25 8 Maintenance Procedures.25 8.1 VFO Lubrication .25 8.2 Fan Lubrication .26 8.3 VBT Variable selectivity Bandwidth Tuning Oscillator Alignment approx. 8375 KHz.26 8.4 USB/LSB Carrier Oscillator Alignment.27 9 Modifications.27 9.1 AMTOR modification.27 9.2 WARC modification.28 9.3 RIT / XIT modifications.28 9.4 VFO-230 fine tune mod.28 9.5 TS-830S Low Voltage Supply Optional Improvements .28 9.6 Kenwood TS-830 filter modification .29 9.7 TS-830S Operation on 240 V AC .30 9.8 TS-830S Noise Blanker Optional Improvements.30 10 Product Reviews .31 5 10.1 Opinions and Ratings of TS-830 owners.31 10.1.1 Great Radio, Rating: 5 of 5.31 10.1.2 I miss mine, Rating: 5 of 5.32 10.1.3 Good but aging, Rating: 5 of 5 .32 10.1.4 TS-830 The Best of the Best, Rating: 5 of 5.32 10.1.5 Brilliant audio from 830, Rating: 5 of 5.32 10.1.6 Excellent Radio on the used Market, Rating: 5 of 5.32 10.1.7 Excellent Radio, Rating: 5 of 5.32 10.1.8 A quality classic, Rating: 5 of 5.33 10.1.9 Still Impressive after all these years, Rating: 5 of 5.33 10.1.10 One of the very best, Rating: 5 of 5.33 10.1.11 Will never say goodbye, Rating: 5 of 5.33 10.1.12 Nice, Rating: 4 of 5.33 10.1.13 Nice transceiver, Rating: 5 of 5.34 10.1.14 Great Rig. Rating: 5 of 5.34 10.1.15 Like putting down a friend; rating. 5 of 5.34 10.1.16 Going strong after 18 years, Rating: 5 of 5 .34 10.1.17 TS-830S Finals last forever, Rating: 5 of 5.34 10.1.18 Good radio.with a question to other TS-830S owners, Rating: 4 of 5.35 11 Connectors and Plugs.36 12 Index.37 6 1 Preface I purchased a Kenwood TS-830S on the used market after passing the ham exam in 2001. Months before I was searching the internet extensively to get an idea of how an newcomers shortwave transceiver must look like, especially what features it must have and which of them are not essentially. The costs did play an important role: my personal limit was 500$ for the transceiver (a few weeks later the MFJ-949 manual antenna tuner took me again 200$ and an MC-50 mike from Kenwood again 70$). Regardless of the many (mostly technical) comments about this decision, which are to be found on the net, my personal opinion is that a transceiver must look like a transceiver that means, there must be a minimum amount of metallic shining knobs and switches and in generally a solid design. First time using it I didnt really know what I was doing, but the TS-830 knewand did what it was expected to do It didnt take a long time until I encountered the first problems: there was no output in SSB-mode and I realized the low power output on the upper bands. And here the story begins. I searched for technical descriptions and procedures to do these repairs and found them wide dispersed on the Web. And so I started collecting them, in the beginning for personal use only. The problem of no SSB TX operation was quite easy to fix: a broken copper ground connection on the back of the IF board caused the mike amplifier to fail. Soldering a simple insulated wire to another ground point on this board and I was in business on SSB. Changing the tubes and re-neutralizing in generally is a simple procedure, but if one had never done this before, even simple things can be difficult or at least take a long time. This may be a waste of time on the other hand its is only the intensive dealing with a problem that makes us learn and achieve experience and skill. Many hams do know how to handle and repair older equipment, but a growing number doesnt anymore since they grew up with solid state technology only or are not interested in the older rigs. Many newbees are taught to avoid boatanchors, they hear that dipping the plate and peaking the load of a tube final is much too tricky and time wasting