On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:58:42 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:37:02 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow
wrote:

No, tapping on it will not induce micro-phonics but will often lessen
the howl.

Well, if it were "grounding", then banging on the case would have no
effect (unless there were some screws loose).

From what I've read these radios, maybe the first batch had grounding
issues and the fix was to provide a better ground. If you have some time
google VX-5 grounding issue. I haven't done it yet so I can't post any
reference links.

Incidentally, I tried my VX-5 turn on/off times. It took about 1 second
to turn on, and the same to turn off. Pushing the button to turn off
was *NOT* instantaneous. I had to hold it for 1 sec. It's been like
that since new, so there's been no deterioration. At this point, I
don't know if it's a firmware issue, settings issue, or dirty keyboard.
Save, reset and reload seems the easiest to do first.

Yeah by immediately I meant within a second. Compared to 10 sometimes 30
seconds to get it to come on it seemed pretty immediate to me

Another couple things; if the radio if left off for a couple days it
takes more button-play to get it to come on. Also when I charge it off
the cig lighter cord, the words 'now charging' appear and when done the
RX/TX light turns amber and 'charge complete' is displayed. This tells my
some micro processing is going one when the radio is off. I guess you
could call it a soft-off/soft-on. Obviously with a touch pad some standby
processing is needed to interpret the call for on. But without delving
into the operating theory it's hard to tell exactly but easy to guess.

Once the radio is on, the howl goes away, maybe after 10 minutes.

Something is getting warm perhaps?

The RF out device sinks on the back but I think the warming and expanding
of the radio in general creates a better ground for whatever is not
getting a good ground. The radio does not have to be transmitted, it can
just RX during this period and eventually the howl will stop. And the
howl is only on .70cm. This would indicate problems other than grounding.
Or not It's only a minor annoyance and I actually do a lot of SW QSX
on that radio and only use it moderately on VHF. And it's been doing the
howl for years. Neither the howl or delayed on are a big issue until
either interfere completely with the operation.

We have it here due to severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging
winds, localized flooding, micro-bursts and tornadoes.

That's why I like California. Other than earthquakes and government, we
don't have much in the way to disasters here.

... I had just purchased a Dodge 4x4 in the spring. I was out chasing a
storm around and got pelted by some golf ball sized hail. That ended my
chasing days. I don't have a beater that I care about looking like
someone took a hammer to it.

Ouch. I've never even seen a tornado, so I have no idea what it might
be like. Raining golf balls sounds like no fun. Yes, Skywarn has its
place in your part of the country.

I urge non-hams to listen to skywarn on a scanner if they have one when
weather threatens. Anyone in Skywarn gets a text when watches/advisories
are put out by the NWS.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse