[HCRA] today's Moron Qualifying Event

[Mike DeChristopher, K1KAA]

Hi all,
	Since the reflector has been quiet lately, I figured I would share my 
most recent M.Q.E. (Moron Qualifying Event).  It occured earlier today 
while working around the shack, and took up most of the day (and all of 
my energy).
	I was trying to troubleshoot my computer/radio interfaces.  As most of 
you know, I use only TS-440's here; you could call me a collector, 
although perhaps "acquirer" is more honest.  Owning a TS-440 is much 
like owning an old car: things break, but you know your way around under 
the hood so well, it doesn't much bother you anymore.
	Anyway, I turn the right radio on.  Everything works correctly, but I 
get this terrible tone.  The tone wouldn't go away unless I turned the 
AF down.  When I dropped the RX, it was still there.  When I changed 
microphones, it was still there.  When I transmitted, it was still 
there.  Since I have two of everything here, I decide to try things on 
the left radio.  Turned that one on, no tone, no problems.  So it was 
certainly the right radio.  I swapped the amplifier.  Still heard it.  I 
swapped the power supply.  Still heard it.  I unplugged the switches, 
the band decoders, the so2r controls, the qsk block for the amp, and 
even the power cord, yet the tone was still there.  Now, I'm getting 
desperate.
	Those who own TS-440's know that we are an exclusive group.  Not 
because we chose to be, but because most people threw these things out a 
decade or so ago.  Luckily, I have a list of people with similar tastes 
(and that taste is Kenwood), and was able to shoot a few emails out.  I 
ended up talking with a guy online, then eventually on the radio, and 
then eventually on the telephone, and I walked him through the problem. 
  Within two hours, the radio was taken apart and scattered all across 
the operating table.  It had been almost eight hours since I first 
discovered the tone.
	I started talking to another TS-440 user on the left radio.  40m was a 
little busy, so the copy was not fantastic, but he was thinking through 
the situation.  He has me pull out the PLL board and start looking for 
issues in the VCO area, which I was suspect of, but did anyway.  Being a 
career TS-440 user, I could draw the PLL board out of memory alone.  In 
any case, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  I put the radio back 
together, and turned it back on, continuing to talk with the left radio.
	Out of nowhere, he keys up and asks, "Wait, wait...turn up the AF...I 
can hear the tone in the background..."
	By this time, several other TS-440 users from a multitude of subject 
email reflectors have assembled on the frequency at our behest.  So, 
knowing somebody would have the answer.  I transmitted so they could 
hear the tone.
	"Are you sure everything is unplugged from the back of the radio?" 
Someone asked.  I laughed.  What a foolish question.
	"Yeah, yeah, of course."
	"That noise doesn't sound familiar?"  He asked again.
	I thought for a moment, then immediately looked at the back of the 
radio.  Sure enough, I had forgotten to unplug something.  The keyer was 
still very much plugged in.  I looked at the key up on the top shelf, 
far out of my view, and sure enough, one of the paddles was jammed down. 
  Without the keyer in iambic mode, and with the radio on SSB, this 
produced a steady tone from the speaker.
	"You moron, that's not a tone, that's the letter T!"
	I think the moral of this story is similar to "measure twice, cut 
once."  Anyway, that was my M.Q.E. for the day.


-- 

Mike DeChristopher, K1KAA
k1kaa at arrl.net
AR-Cluster node telnet://dx.413ma.org