[TMC] SBE-3 question

[Chris Bolkan]

Hi TMC lovers!

I am currently trying to bring up a rough SBE-3 to operational condition
and need some help. I have no experience to pull on so I am hoping someone
on here has "been there and done that". I am starting by looking for the
most basic functionality...are the oscillators oscillating? The first
oscillator I am troubleshooting is the 250Khz sideband carrier (Z-103,
Z-108). It seems to me that this oscillator should be outputting a pure
looking sine wave. Mine is oscillating at the right frequency, and I
believe the final amplitude out of the cathode follower is approximately
correct, but the waveform is horrendous. Should it be a clean sine wave
like I think it should be or is it OK that it looks like $h1t?

I've looked the circuit over, checked component values and believe there
are no out of tolerance resistors or leaky caps, but something just doesn't
seem right.

It seems to me that if this oscillator is creating the (re)inserted carrier
it should be a pretty clean waveform. Any thoughts?

Best regards,

Chris
KI7NXY