[NLRS] Probably one for the bit bucket, but...

[Scott]

While playing hooky from work today (well, really due to the fact that 
my water heater basically exploded yesterday) and waiting for the 
plumber to show up ("A man's got to know his limitations."  I know 
mine.  Plumbing is it!), I decided it was high time to work on modifying 
my Icom IC-251A for transverter use.  Having forgot ONCE to turn down 
the power on my Yaesu 857 and partially smoking my 222 transverter, I 
vowed NEVER AGAIN!  Going over the schematic with my now needed reading 
glasses with magnification, I saw an easy thing to try.  Here is what I did:

I removed J2 on the main board.  This disables Q31 and Q32 in the 
transmit path by removing Vcc to them.  This plug, I believe, is used to 
set quiescent current during alignment procedures  This results in an 
output at 2M of right around -8 dBm at the antenna jack on the radio.  
This is with the Mic Gain and RF Power controls fully clockwise.  
Turning these CCW reduces the output further.  I checked the output 
level in SSB, CW and FM and all were at this level.  This is a good 
thing!  (My Downeast 902 transverter can be built to accept IF input in 
the range of -20 to 0 dBm, so I modified it today as well for this 
range.  I assume all their units can accept IF power in this range.)

So, this info may be useless to 99% of you (or more), but I felt I 
should put it out there just in case!

By the way, this modification does NOT affect receive sensitivity in any 
way (another good thing!)!!

Save or file this in the circular bit bucket as you see fit!  :)

-- 
Scott N0EDV
http://corbenflyer.tripod.com/
Gotta Fly or Gonna Die
Building RV-4 (Super Slow Build Version)