Orion 28 MHz Noise Fix

From the Ten-Tec Reflector October 20, 2006

My Orion has decided to generate some noise on ten meters. The receiver has frying hash at about 30 over 9, rendering the receiver useless. Other receivers in the shack have NO noise on ten unless the Orion is powered up….yes the noise generated by the Orion can be heard in other receivers. Orion is dead quiet on 12 and below. Anyone else ever experience this and found a cure before I trouble the good folks at TenTec with this one? thanks. 73 bob de w9ge


October 20, 2006

Problem solved. It was a rat shack Y cable attached to the +13 volt jack on the back of the Orion. I had the heatsink fan powered thru the Y, with the other end unused. Removing the Y cable and powering the fan directly from the +13 volt jack is fine. Thanks so much to Hank for the suggestion. 73 bob de w9ge


October 20, 2006

Interesting - I got a nice "buzzing" on mine on 10m starting around 28.100 or so and going up through the top end of the band. It was also from a cheapo "y" cable run from +13.8VDC on the back to the fan and to the light on my 238B tuner. I found if I unplugged the tuner, the noise went away, so it sounds like the "Y" cables on the power can give some grief. I thought it was partially a ground loop that was somehow propagating noise from the fan motor since it seemed to follow the fan RPM in tone.

73, Duane

Duane Calvin, AC5AA


October 20, 2006

The Orion II operator's manual warns against using a "Y" cable for this purpose (running the cooling fan and tuner light from the same source) for the reason (ground loop) you describe.

Charles Delaune


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