Help!
I dont know what went wrong, i took my time and carefully checked my work but i still cant seem to get my sstran to transmit.
Help!
I dont know what went wrong, i took my time and carefully checked my work but i still cant seem to get my sstran to transmit.
Though i had a hard time reading some of the color bands on the resistors, i had my wonderful wife check the colors for me just to be sure.
She is even checking over my work now as i type this blog.
Now i know its going to be hard for anyone to troubleshoot the tx without actually looking it over themselves but i am at a loss.
I do not have multimeter to check for voltage at the moment but the l.e.d does light and the voltage regualtor gets warm.
I tried different setting for frequencies across the band, starting with 1700 khz , 1000 khz and 530 khz but still no rf , no carrier.
Any ideas?
In the past i have always had luck on my side when it came to building kits, heck ive owned 3 different ramsey tx’s but this is the first time ive had one not work at all.
If i still cant get it working in the next 2 days, i may send it back and have the guys at sstran check it for me.
Until then i will stay on with the FM.
Troubleshooting
Most problems with a new build are due to incorrect parts placement and defective solder joints. I had problems with the colors also, sometimes confusing red with orange. With the power off, measure the resistance across the resistors. You should not get a reading much above the nominal values, though you may get lower readings normally because of other components. This is how I found two transposed resistors when I built my kit.
Double check U4. It should be labelled “L05” or something similar. It is easy to confuse this part with the transistors which are labelled 2N2222.
Also carefully check solder joints, especially looking for solder bridging from pad to pad.
From what you describe, the synthesiser is probably working. After the checks above, I would proceed by measuring the voltages on the terminals (EBC, emitter, collector, base) of Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and Q5 (the black or negative lead of the meter on ground such as the audio jack outer shell) and compare your readings to those shown on the schematic. Though it is improbable that these semiconductors are defective, an abnormal voltage might lead to the discovery of another problem. If a measured voltage is off by more than a couple tenths of a volt it would indicate trouble. The idea here is to isolate the problem to one part of the circuit.
If you wish, post the measurements and you will probably get some help interpreting them here.
Neil
Check the synthesizer switch
Are you sure that you are setting the dip switches correctly? It is easy to misinterpret the switch positions, particularly if you inserted the switch the wrong way.
I am not sitting in front of mine, but I believe that the least significant bit (the 1’s place) is to the far right side of the board as observed from the front. Also, a “1” (on) is with the switch set toward the front of the unit. I will confirm this later when I get home; meanwhile you would not damage anything by setting the switches incorrectly.
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