Teestoke Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Hi All Does anybody know if a 353 can be used with a resonant antenna connected directly to the radio without the TUAAM and ARFAT, or does the radio need some feedback from these devices before it will work? Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewstop Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 The radio will work with other Ae systems that were issued such as:- Ground Mounted Monopole (GMM) Elevated Very High Frequency (EVHF) Inverted V they all plug into the front of the set using a small co-ax Improvised Ae could be made using the small co-ax going into the Centre Junction Dipole (CJD) from a PRC320 bag then Copper Wire (R4) or D10 use as the Ae legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g0ozs Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Any 50 ohm antenna cut for the operating frequency will work - the TUAAM/ARFAT interface does nothing unless the control cable is connected. Iain 73 de G0OZS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teestoke Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 Many thanks to G0ozs and Brewstop for the replies. I had tried it on receive, but there is a constant noise from within, so thought it might not be ok. The noise was as if it was constantly making tuning adjustments. Terry M1GXL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g0ozs Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Terry Usually if the dial lamp stays on (rather than flashing) the PLL has locked. The PLL uses motor driven tuning for the coarse frequency setting and there are fans so a degree of noise is to be expected - it is a combination of the fan and a ticking/breathing sound. As a confidence check before using it on air it's worth cycling through the positions on the test switch that read in rx mode with no signal - 28V supply, synth and afc should all be in the green on the meter. On power up there should be 3 or 4 seconds of motor noise and flashing dial before it settles. If you change frequency between bands - e.g. going from 50 to 70 MHz - there should be a substantial "clunk" as the motor driven turret tuners change bands before the fine tuning stage. Probably the best way to test it is on TX with a dummy load and frequency counter to verify that it gives a sensible amount of power and is stable - if you have a 4m or 6m signal source even if it doesn't do FM you should be able to detect a carrier and notice the squelch open as the source comes on to the RT353 frequency. The 353 will interwork with amateur and ex-PMR kit on 4m and 6m - the main issue reported with older non CTCSS capable sets is that the Clansman 150Hz CTCSS tone transmitted by the 353 is unpleasantly loud. So it should be possible to test it with anyone locally who has kit for those bands. Unfortunately the 6m repeaters are on 10KHz channels so not many land on the 25KHz steps of the 353 - but you can usually receive them OK in "wide" mode. Regards Iain 73 de G0OZS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teestoke Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Hi Iain Sorry about the delayed reply, but thanks for the info. I will check it out soon. regards Terry M1GXL Terry Usually if the dial lamp stays on (rather than flashing) the PLL has locked. The PLL uses motor driven tuning for the coarse frequency setting and there are fans so a degree of noise is to be expected - it is a combination of the fan and a ticking/breathing sound. As a confidence check before using it on air it's worth cycling through the positions on the test switch that read in rx mode with no signal - 28V supply, synth and afc should all be in the green on the meter. On power up there should be 3 or 4 seconds of motor noise and flashing dial before it settles. If you change frequency between bands - e.g. going from 50 to 70 MHz - there should be a substantial "clunk" as the motor driven turret tuners change bands before the fine tuning stage. Probably the best way to test it is on TX with a dummy load and frequency counter to verify that it gives a sensible amount of power and is stable - if you have a 4m or 6m signal source even if it doesn't do FM you should be able to detect a carrier and notice the squelch open as the source comes on to the RT353 frequency. The 353 will interwork with amateur and ex-PMR kit on 4m and 6m - the main issue reported with older non CTCSS capable sets is that the Clansman 150Hz CTCSS tone transmitted by the 353 is unpleasantly loud. So it should be possible to test it with anyone locally who has kit for those bands. Unfortunately the 6m repeaters are on 10KHz channels so not many land on the 25KHz steps of the 353 - but you can usually receive them OK in "wide" mode. Regards Iain 73 de G0OZS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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