[1000mp] [Fwd: Re: MP question]

[Garry Shapiro]

I have two original MP's. I sent one to Byron Campbell, WA4GEG. (I had 
replaced the display and the board it was on with a used unit. The 
display turned out to be OK, but I no longer had most front-panel 
functionality. I thought I had connected something wrong, but I did not. 
The used board I purchased--from the owner of a damaged radio--was the 
damaged part of the radio. Needless to say, I bought his problem and 
saved no money for my efforts. Life is like that.)

I noticed the following annoying symptom when I powered up the returned 
radio and asked Byron if he could help. His suggestion to cycle the 
battery-backup switch turned out to be the solution. Perhaps this may 
help someone else.

BTW, I can strongly recommend Bryon's work. He gives specific 
instructions on his site for correctly shipping the unit, tells you when 
he will get to it, does the work and explains it thoroughly, and returns 
the unit promptly. He also re-aligned my radio to factory specs. Very 
professional.

73

Garry, NI6T


Hi Garry,

On Thursday 04 December 2008 05:49:29 am Garry Shapiro wrote:
>
> The returned radio powers up in default mode-7000 kHz, 2.4 kHz
> filters, LSB, Ant A, losing whatever frequency, mode, antenna and
> filter settings it had when last powered down. But all the memories
> and setup choices appear to be intact from before it was sent off
> to you, and are in fact identical to its sister unit, unchanged
> from before I sent it. The first observation suggests the coin
> battery is weak, but the second suggests it is fine. Do you have a
> quick explanation of why this radio is not holding its settings
> through power-down?

The VFO A/B resetting to 7.000.00 at power on is a common symptom many 
MP series transceivers have. It appears  to be a characteristic of 
aging control boards. Sometimes this "resetting" symptom
can be improved by cycling the back-up battery switch several times to 
burnish-in its silvered contacts should they have tarnished in 
storage etc.

In other cases the reset characteristic remains over several power-on 
cycles and then straightens up on its own. At switch-on the radios 
CPU boots the operating code. While the service manual is devoid of 
any diagnostic info. for the control board, I have been studying this 
reset issue. My guess is that an error occurs at boot time 
(switch-on) and causes the memorized "last used freq." info. to be 
dumped, and the CPU starts anew at square one (7.000.00.)

Annoying to say the least, but in reality very harmless and no 
indication of any serious impending failure in the control board.

-- 
Best regards,
Byron - WA4GEG

---------------------------------------
Electronic Equipment Service
Byron Campbell
126 Stiner Shores Rd.
Sharps Chapel, TN 37866
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web site: http://www.hamradiobug.com