On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:00:48 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:11:28 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow
wrote:

I think the .70cm band howl is due to the PL tone of what I listen to
the most, local public safety with a high 167.9? tone. Doesn't happen on
a ham repeater with 110.9.

Put an oscilloscope on the speaker and see for yourself. It's possible
but it would need to be belching harmonics of 167.9Hz to be heard. The
300 Hz high pass filter in the receiver works quite well. The local
railroad uses a 203.5 Hz tone, which I can't hear on my VX-5r. Also, it
wouldn't "howl" or "ring" if it were PL feed through unless it were on
the same mechanical resonance that's causing the VCO to become
microphonic.

I can hear the PL tone. Maybe the highpass filter isn't working? It's not
loud but it's there. Hook it up to an external com speaker and it loud.

Haven't tried to put some pressure on the board to dampen an oscillation
between the speaker and the board yet.

My guess(tm) is that some foam pads in strategic places will eliminate
the microphonics.

I'm going to do that when i peel it apart and clean the touchpad.

If i leave it on for more than 5
minutes it doesn't act up.

That's unusual. That can't be PL feedthrough unless the audio section
is drifting around in gain or phase. My brain is into paying bills
tonite, so give me a little time to think about that one. They symptoms
don't seem very consistent with microphonics.

Yeah. If I crank the volume the howl goes away faster.

Also the power on problem is now 3 pushes then hold and it turns one,
every time. I hold the button for 1 second in between pushes.

Open radio. Remove membrane keyboard. Clean with alcohol and "sand"
the graphite contacts. Clean the mating PCB pads. That should get rid
of that problem.

Also I failed to mention I did not use this radio for maybe 6 months,
during the period I only used my new FT-60. The VX-5 was nearly
impossible to turn on after that. But the more it's used the quicker it
comes on.

Well, the VX-5r could have become jealous of the FT-60 during this time,
but I doubt it. Try separating the two and see if they behave in a more
civilized manner.

I'll try separating the two. But the VX-5 has nothing to be jealous
of the FT-60. It's full 5 watts on 2 with the E-DC-5B cig plug.

Finally, it's hard to believe the original battery still performs like
new. Makes me wonder why some fail so quickly. Must be a quality issue.

I've seen that will some cell phone batteries. The OEM batteries seem
to last forever, while the cheap Chinese eBay clones, die in less than
half the time. Of course, I can buy maybe 10 cheap batteries for one
OEM from the cellular provider, so buying junk is still a win. The
battery in my VX-5R is the same as it was purchased by the former owner.
My guess is about 1998. It still seems as good as new but I haven't
bothered to verify that with my West Mtn Radio CBA-II battery tester.

Drivel: Now programming a VX-6R for a friend. I discovered yesterday
that my VX-5R cable won't fit in the VX-6R. both radios have a fairly
standard 4 pin 3.5mm connector. However, The VX-6R connector has a
threaded section instead of the flush plastic body. The result is the
VX-6R cable will fit in the VX-5R (and others), but not the reverse.
Welcome to designed obsolescence. Buy a new radio, and you have to buy
a new programming cable (and software). Incidentally, the various VX-?r
Commander software is much better than the stock RT Systems or Yaesu
software.

I would almost expect that being a ham on decade 3 of his license.

Oh and more drivel. I have two batteries for the FT-60. One will charge
with the E-DC-5B cig plug, one wont. However both charge to 8.3 volts
in the rapid drop charger CD-29. Both are 1400mah 7.2v. Got any insight
on that?



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