Troubleshooting Guide - Ten-Tec 1253 Assembly And Instruction Manual

Troubleshooting Guide

This receiver will work as specified if the right parts are selected
and installed correctly and all connections are made as explained
in this manual . The #1 cause of problems in most kit projects is
exactly the things we tend to take for granted: a mistake or
broken wire in the connection of external items to the circuit
board, such as DC power, speaker, switches and so forth. After
that comes a mistake on the board itself, such as:
Incorrect part value
Reversed orientation of transistors, capacitors, etc.
Bad solder connection (cold joint or bridge)
If your receiver does not work, review ALL construction steps
carefully. Let somebody else go over your work and the steps.
Here is a guide to minor problems which are easier to solve:
1. Weak volume with headphones. Test your headphones on a
working stereo: it is easily possible for headphones to become
defective. Also, remember that the audio output is designed for
low impedance headphones (8 ohms typically) and poor results
might be expected from some high impedance magnetic phones.
2. CW signals all sound chirpy or wobbly.
The batteries are much too weak: check and replace.
3. Regeneration inoperative on some bands, especially Band 1 or
Band 9. Incorrect adjustment of trimmer R6. See Steps 7-51-54.
4. Receiver works fine sometimes, but is erratic especially when
it is bumped or moved. Look for a loose solder connection.
5. Very strong signals are impossible to tune in well.
Reduce the setting of the RF Gain control.
6. Signals wobble slightly if the receiver is bumped.
This is a normal characteristic of ANY simple oscillator.
7. The tuning bands seem mixed up, such as 80 and 20 meters
reversed. Incorrect installation of inductors: for example L2 for
80 meters is 33 μH (orange-orange-BLACK-gold) and L7 for 20
meters is 3.3 μH (orange-orange-GOLD-gold).
8. Extreme squealing or buzzing at higher settings of volume
control. This "feedback" indicates an error in kit assembly.
Recheck all assembly steps. (Slight feedback may begin to occur
with extremely weak batteries.)
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