[1000mp] Concerning my stupidity!

[Joe Giacobello, K2XX]

I've been there...many times.

73, Joe

Tom Horton wrote:

> Folks,
>
>  After my fiasco of this past weekend, I have had several people ask 
> me just what the
> problem was that caused my FT-1000MP not to work.
>  Although I cannot say definatively what the problem was, I will provide
> the following information. There is a term that absolutely describes this
> whole thing, but I better not use it here.
>  Let me begin by stating that this is one of the most embarrasing
> admissions I have ever made. (There are a lot that I haven't admitted)
>  I will preface this by saying that my career was always electronics
> troubleshooting. I always considered myself as one of the best 
> troubleshooters in
> my company.
>  This is something for everyone to remember. I know it, I remembered 
> it, I just
> didn't apply the knowledge.
>
> PROLOG:
>
>  This past week  had been anxiously awaiting the ARRL 10 Meter Conest. 
> It is one of my
> favorite contests and I prepared as much as I possibly could to 
> prepare for it. I got the logging
> program set up, checked that the time was properly set (something I 
> normally forget till after
> the contest starts), got the coffee pot set up, etc.
>  Here begin the errors of my ways:
>
> STUPID MISTAKE # 1
>
>  For some reason (stupidity again) I forgot that daylight savings time 
> ended well over a month ago.
> At 7:15 PM local time I went up to the shack to get ready and do a 
> couple of housekeeping
> chores there before the contest started. I tuned the radio to 28 Mhz 
> CW and was listening
> while I did the chores. All of a sudden I recognized that  people were 
> calling CQ TEST!
> I looked at the computer clock and saw that it said 0024Z. Oh man!!!!! 
> I had totally screwed up!
> I jumped into the chair and started working the contest late.
>  Conditions were not good from here, and the words "plodding along" 
> comes to mind.
> Anyway, after a bit, I took a break aned went down stairs. Upon 
> returning to the shack
> I thought since things were slow, I would check e-mail while searching 
> around.
>
>  STUPID MISTAKE # 2
>
>   Since I was going to check e-mail, I needed to boot into WIN98.  
> Since conditions were
> about gone for me for the evening, I figured I could run my DOS 
> logging from a DOS window
> rather than booting straight into DOS. I've done this lots of times 
> and have noticed small
> problems occasionally, but nothing really serious.
>  With the program running in the DOS windows, I was making a few 
> contacts and then all
> of a sudden, the transmitter locked on...and I mean locked on! The 
> only way I could get out of
> transmit was to turn the power off. When I turned the power back on, I 
> could not get the MP to key
> at all...SSB, CW, VOX MOX...NADA! Did the master reset thing , et al. 
> Shut the logging
> program down, etc. Tried massive amounts of things. Nothing worked!
>  To make this shorter, suffice it to say that I gave up after a while 
> and went to bed very dissapointed!
>
> STUPID MISTAKE  #3
>
>  Since I could not operate the contest (I only have the one radio) I 
> just did honey-dos around the house.
> I talked to Bill, N8KM on the phone that afternoon and explained my 
> plight to him.
> He reminded me of a time when he had a similar problem and how he had 
> just torn everything
> apart and put it back together and it all worked that then.
>  I denied that this was my problem, but as I watched the news on TV,  
> I began to wonder. I went
> back to the shack and started tearing the rest of the station apart.
>  I put everything that was necessary to operate the contest back 
> together and hit the key.
> It keyed the rig! Plugged in the mike and it worked. VOX, MOX CW, SSB 
> all worked!
>
> STUPID MISTAKE #4
>
>  This mistake was assuming that the problem was a major one rather 
> than a minor one.
> Amazingly this is something that I had encountered repeatedly in my 
> working days. I used to
> have a young technician working for me that couldn't repair an 
> electronic circuit on a bet.
> But he could find bad solder joints, broken wires, etc., better than 
> anyone I ever saw.
> You must always assume that the problem is fixable until proven 
> otherwise.
>
> CONCLUSION:
>
>  I have no exact explanation for what happened, unless, using the program
> under a DOS window told the computer/radio something it didn't want to 
> heard/see.
> I just didn't take the troubleshooting the next step farther. In 
> essence, I just gave up!
>
> EPILOG:
>
>  The radio is back to working and I did operate all day Sunday. So, 
> the next time
> you have a wierd problem, just remember that most of the times, 
> strange/weird problems
> are just that and they are normally fixable with a bit of 
> stick-to-it-ive-ness!
> And no, I am not going to open up a repair shop specializing in 
> weird/strange pproblems.
>
> I have not mentioed all the stupid things that occurred during this 
> mess. I do have a bit of pride left,
> so I shan't embarrass myself further.
>
> Again, just remember. DON"T QUIT TRYING!
>
> Hope some of you learned something. I sure did!!
>
> 73,
>  Tom K5IID
>
> BTW... Thanks Bill!
>
> _______________________________________________
> List Moderator: Richard Lubash N1VXW
> 1000mp mailing list
> 1000mp@mailman.qth.net
> To Change Options or Unsubscribe:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/1000mp
>
>