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From: jhs%Mitre-Bedford@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: Re: TS-430 frequency display; mods
Message-ID: <12149@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Sep-84 14:26:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12149
Posted: Tue Sep 18 14:26:00 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 00:56:20 EDT
Lines: 41

Well, either the TS-430S DOES give incorrect readings, or else a respected
friend of mine doesn't know what he is talking about.  He went through the
alignment procedure quite carefully, especially after my cousin N4AZY and
I both chided him for being nearly 200 Hz off frequency relative to our true
frequency counters on older TS120-S and TS-130S rigs.

He came back and told us that after much puzzling over the schematic diagram,
he had concluded to his extreme annoyance that Kenwood's design does NOT
provide true counter operation, but merely reads out its own idea of what the
frequency OUGHT to be, as in your "numbers it is sending to the synthesizer".
(Clearly, a readout of numbers SENT TO the synthesizer is an "open loop"
measurement, not a true readout of synthesizer output frequency.  For one
thing, what if there is a logic failure in the synthesizer?  Where would a 430
owner be THEN?  Why, probably out of band, while reading out a nice comforting
frequency within the band.)

My friend aligned his rig for precise readout accuracy at one point on the 20
Meter band, as the manual told him to, and then found that it was off by about
160 Hz at the other end of the band, as read with a well-known and highly
accurate brand of frequency counter.  That is to say, the digital readout on
the 430 and the counter agreed exactly at the calibration point, and differed
by 160 Hz at the other end of the band.  Which obviously cannot be attributed
to "dial slippage" or "lost pulses".  Sorry to disillusion you 430 owners out
there!

I rest my case.  If you still think your 430 gives exact counter readouts,
I suggest you get a REAL counter and check it at several points on the dial.
If it checks out everywhere, then I would be interested to hear about it and
so would N1BHI who pointed out the problem to me originally.  (Maybe Kenwood
has seen the error of their ways and redesigned the unit to get rid of this
very annoying "feature".)  I bet you will find a 100 - 200 Hz error at a few
points, which should be readily detectable, since their digital readout shows
10-Hz increments.  Unless you find out that my information really is
incorrect, BEWARE of operating right at the band edge, and BEWARE of the
possibility of a logic failure which could put you out of band.  To be legal,
you need a separate means of checking the 430's output frequency!

					73 and apologies for being
					the bearer of bad news...

					de W3IKG