[1000mp] FT-1000MP back ground hiss. CW Cap Mod--LONG!

[1000mp@mailman.qth.net]

Hi, Gary,

You wrote:

"The most annoying thing to me now is the occasional loss of RX gain I
experience when transitioning from TX to RX. I first noticed it when
using my radio at 3B9R. It was most noticeable on CW, due to the higher 
number of RX/TX/RX transitions. In every case, the next cycle restores
normality, but the problem recurs after anywhere from 10 to 100 or more
cycles, more or less. In other words, it is intermittent. It may also
occur after bandchanges. This can be pretty distracting in a tough
pileup."
----------
I had the same problem intermittently and assumed it was a dirty relay
contact.  Resending a dit or hitting the A/B antenna switch would restore
RX gain.  Apparently it cured itself, because I haven't had it happen for
a couple of years now.
==========

"The third irritant was the clarifier frequency jumps. They only occur
when the clarifier knob is turned at moderate to fast rate. That problem
is apparently common and well-known, and has been recently discussed at
length here. So I tend not to use the clarifier."
----------
From previous posts on this reflector, apparently the control gets dirty
or wears out and causes the problem.  I've never experienced this
problem,  but I find it much more convenient during contest runs to
transmit on VFO-B and tune for callers on VFO-A so I don't use the
clarifier very often.  I have the menu set for the slowest VFO tuning
rate (0.625 kHz per turn), which makes using VFO-A as the "clarifier"
nice.  If I want to tune faster, I just hit the FAST button or use the
shuttle jog feature.
==========
 
" The fourth irritant was optoencoder noise from the B VFO knob, which
appears in my headphones. It's not loud, and is only noticeable on a very
quiet band. It's probably due to lead placement. But the Yaesu tech could
not reproduce it, even though it is NOT intermittent, but reproducible at
will.  Thank Marconi it is at very low level, and generally inaudible at
my noise levels, so I have mentally tuned it out."
----------
I remember your previous posts about this problem.  It might be unique to
your radio because I don't recall anyone else complaining about it.  When
you posted this problem, I even carefully listened for it on my MP but I
couldn't hear it.
==========

"Number five is key clicks. It is down the list because, for quite a
while, I was blissfully unaware that I had them. Now, of course, I know
that we (MP owners) all have clicks, and I can even pretty much tell,
especially on 160, who in the pileup is a Yaesu owner, and vice versa. It
annoys me that I will have to take the radio apart and rewire the filters
to cure it, mostly because my eyesight is failing, and working on small
components has become damned near impossible for me. But I plan to do it
this summer, probably with some help from friends."
----------
Because noone ever complained, I also was blissfully unaware of the key
click problem until W8JI's posts.  Looking into it, sure enough, my MP's
CW TX bandwidth was 5 kHz!  I did the INRAD "keying improvement" mod
which reduced it to about 1.5 kHz.  Subsequently I did the W8JI key click
mod which reduced it to about 0.5 kHz.

Some individuals have e-mailed me stating that their MP does not have
clicks.  They remain "blissfully unaware".  A couple of others have said
they have asked their friends to monitor their MP's signal for clicks and
their friends have told them they are clean.  I assume that the friends
were either tuning 10 or 15 kHz off frequency or were using wide SSB
filters on CW where the clicks would go unnoticed.  These owners also
remain blissfully unaware.

Yes, you can definitely tell who is an MP owner on CW (unless they've
done the mod).  Icoms also have the problem to a lesser extent (except
the IC-775 which is as bad as the MP), and Kenwoods seem to be quite
clean on CW.

Regarding rewiring the MP's filters to reduce the click problem, W8JI was
going to look into that possible mod but I haven't heard anything further
from him about it.  Do you have some advance info about it you would like
to share?
==========

"The sixth irritant is that, occasionally, the DSP goes nuts. It seems to
occur most readily with the outer DSP knob--the noise contour---full CW.
The radio must be power-cycled to get rid of it. Ditto a motorboating 
lockup that occurs occasionally when turning the MEM/VFO knob--it must
not be completely debounced. I guess that is number seven."
----------
Others have reported the DSP problem, but I don't recall reading about
the MEM/VFO knob problem before.  Anyway, I've had neither of these
happen to me.
==========

"OTOH, although my display is somewhat dim upon intitial power-up, it is
not as dramatic as some have described, and it does not bother me. I
guess I am lucky with that one."
----------
I have that problem also, but I have come to ignore it.  I assume it
takes a minute or so for the display to warm up to full brightness.  I
have the menu item for display brightness set to "low", so this may
enhance the "problem".  When the radio is cold, it sometimes takes a
couple of seconds for the display to come on, but I've grown used to that
also.  Apparently this is a very common problem, which Yaesu refuses to
acknowledge.
==========

"As for the keyer, it may well screw up. I don't know, because I don't
use it. I don't use it because, as a contester, I key both from a paddle
and a computer, and, in the MP, one can only do that by paralleling the 
two keying sources, and that means bypassing the keyer. (Yes, I know I
can send manually from the keyboard, but I prefer my paddle.) It would
have been easy to avoid or fix that problem by combining the two key
jacks on the output side of the keyer. But that was not done. That's
number 8."
----------
I noticed the same lack of versatility when having both a paddle and
computer both connected to send CW.  I now have the paddle wired to the
computer so that the paddle tells the computer to generate the dits and
dahs.  That's for contest operation -- for non-contest operation I don't
use the computer and connect my paddle directly to the MP.  No extra
dits, and no problem programming the MP's memory keyer as long as I set
the menu to "iambic 2" while programming.

At the DX convention in Visalia last weekend, I bought the Elecraft K2
transceiver kit.  I read somewhere (possibly the ARRL review) that you
can key the K2 with a paddle and computer both at the same time, just by
paralleling the paddle with the computer key output to the K2's single
key jack.  My eyes, like yours, are not as good as they used to be, so
putting the kit together is a slow process because of the tiny components
and close soldering required.  I'm anxious to compare it's receiver to
the MP,  which many have said is superior in IMD and BDR.  No clicks from
the TX, either, because it's CW waveform is supposed to be 4 ms rise time
and 4 ms falltime.  I hope to use the K2 on my 160m contest expeditions
to the salt lake bed (Elecraft will have their K2 built-in 100W amplifier
available in a couple of weeks, they said).
==========

"Similarly, W8JI's revelation about the noise blanker needing not only to
be OFF but full CCW to avoid distortion from strong signals nearby is
just amazing. That's number 9."
----------
That's a W2VJN (INRAD) revelation which W8JI confirmed, I believe.  I've
listened on busy, crowded bands during CW contests while playing with the
NB control (while the NB is off), but I haven't been able to hear any
"funnies", even with the NB control fully CW.  At any rate I leave the
control fully CCW now when not using the NB.
==========

"I also know that mistakes can be corrected, and that Yaesu has not
corrected any of these problems,  despite the graying of the radio.
Worse, it has allowed them to propagate into the Mk V. I understand the
economic reasons for that, but there is no moral justification for it.
Especially the damned key clicks."
----------
It's a shame that Yaesu has turned a deaf ear to the problems documented
by MP owners on this reflector.  They'll pay for it in the end, I
believe, especially when the Ten-Tec Orion becomes available.  Meanwhile,
the MP remains the best contest radio receiver available (but NOT the key
click-unmodifed transmitter), despite it's problems.

73 , de Earl, K6SE