[Premium-Rx] FW: W-J 8711A queries

[David]

Hello, John --

Just for reference purposes, earlier this year I acquired an older WJ-8711A,
circa 1994, without a manual.  I contacted current WJ owner DRS Signal
Solutions, Inc., in May and purchased a current, hard-copy manual.  The
first page shows a copyright date of 1995.  Its part number is 181126-001,
Revision Z, March 2007.  It cost $225 and was not accompanied by a CD ROM
copy.

A list of revisions is shown on page vii.  There were only two dated in
1993: Revision A, the initial issue, is dated 11/93, and Revision B,
"revised specification related to IF bandwidth shape factors," dated 12/93.
Obviously, there have been 24 revisions since.

If you can't find someone to make you a copy, there is a CD ROM manual on
eBay right now with a buy-it-now price of $164.99 (item number
400122240136), a comparative bargain.  :-)

Enjoy your 8711 and best wishes!

David
Oklahoma City

-----Original Message-----
From: premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of John Nelson
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 10:52 AM
To: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Premium-Rx] W-J 8711A queries

Firstly, a big thank-you to those who responded to my question about
possible manufacturing dates for an 8711A. Seems like it's late 2002 or
early 2003.

Secondly, the printed copy of the manual that came with my receiver is dated
1993. I gather that later receivers were supplied with an additional manual
copy on CD-ROM. If any kind soul has such for a BAE-vintage receiver I'd be
very happy to pay postage and a suitable copy fee. 

And finally, several correspondents raised the issue of the life of the
lithium cell in the Dallas DS1643 timekeeping RAM in the 8711A. I e-mailed
an old friend who's responsible for looking after some 8712 receivers
professionally. I'm not sure whether these have the same IC but here's his
reply in case it's interesting: 

"We still have about 60 WJ-8712 receivers in use here. I have never had to
change any of these batteries despite that fact that our receivers were
bought in about 1994. In fact, I have only once ever had to change one of
the RF boards. We still have a number of spare boards for the receivers, but
on the whole they have been incredibly reliable. I have had a few receivers
fail recently but that seems to have been caused by failure of the cooling
fan. This is connected to the main PSU and so drags the voltage down when it
fails. When  I checked with the Papst web site their life expectancy is only
about 9 or 10 years and all of ours have now been running continuously for
16 years. I am therefore planning on having to replace the fans in all of
the receivers shortly". 

73 John
GW4FRX

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