[Kenwood] TS-430 PLL Problem...

[Steve Kent]

All:

I was wondering if any of you had seen a problem like the one I'm 
describing on my TS-430s.  I have been beating my head against a wall 
for days, and it's starting to hurt!

The main tuning knob tunes fine, the band selector buttons work just 
fine and the unit RX and TX ok. But, per the frequency counter, the rig 
is not tracking the displayed frequency. There are 'gaps' in tuning as 
you tune across the band with distinct boundaries.

Here is an example:
Let's take the 30.000 Mhz upper edge as a start and tune down from 
there....

30.000-29.880 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
29.880-29.501 Radio stays on 29.880, TX & RX
29.500-29.380 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
29.380-28.999 Radio stays on 29.380, TX & RX

29.000-28.880 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
28.880-28.501 Radio stays on 28.880, TX & RX
28.500-28.380 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
28.380-27.999 Radio stays on 28.380, TX & RX

28.000-27.880 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
27.880-27.501 Radio stays on 27.880, TX & RX
27.500-27.380 Tunes Fine, TX & RX
27.380-26.999 Radio stays on 27.380, TX & RX

.
.
.
.

And this continues for every 1Mhz all the way down to 160m.

I started with the VCO, and as far as can tell it is doing what it is 
told, so that brings me to the Control Unit. It appears that the VC2 
output on the control unit is bad and mimics this start and stop behavior.

I swapped the IC7 and IC8 PLL chips with each other on the Control Unit 
thinking that if one were bad, my symptoms would change, but they didn't.

Any input you might have would be very appreciated!

Best Regards & 73,
Steve Kent
KW5CQ