Ten Tec 1210 Manual
Full text of 'May 2001 QST- Copyright © 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights ReservedWOTTX10 M - 222 MHz TRANSVGRTERONPOWER221 Mriz withTen-W f. you operate on 6 and 2 meters,you know how popular thea. 1 Ten-Tec 1210 transverter unitsare. 1 They remind tne of Heath's popularHeath Benton Harbor 'Lunch Boxes' thatgave 6- and 2-meler activity a much-needed shot in the arm some decadesago. The 1210 allows you to operate on2 meters with a power output of 10 Wusing your 10-meter transceiver.
A whileago, a friend and fellow VHF enthusiast.Bill. Approached me with anidea. He wanted to increase the local ac-tivity on 222 MHz.
Class 1 drivers test manitoba. One way to do this,he suggested, was to try converting a Ten-Tec 1210 transverter to operate on222 MHz. Bill had studied the unit'sschematic and it looked like a good can-didate for the job. Besides, he already hada nonworking unit he had picked up at abargain price! Other than a new crystalfor the hand change, the other additionalcomponents needed for the modificationare a few disc-ceramic capacitors andsome RF chokes to retune the circuits to222 MHz.Later-production models of the 1210transverter use a Motorola MRF-2628transistor in place of the BLW-81 devicein the early transverter PAs.
Ten Tec Orion Manual
The modifi-cations we made to the transverter's PAstage are the same for either device. How-ever, because the MRF-2628 has lowergain at 222 MHz, the power output of aunit using this transistor in the PA is about3 W.Before we began the conversion. Billand I set the following criteria for a suc-cessful project:. Low cost. Few (if any) modifications to the PCboard.
The unit should be able to be re-'Joe Bottiglieri, AA1GW, 'Ten-Tec 121010-Meter to 2-Meter Transverter,' ProductReview. QST, Jun 2000, pp 73-74.28 May 2001 PST-Here's a quick way to explore 222 MHzusing your 10-meter transceiver!turned to 2-meter operatiou with a mini-mum of effort, if need be. Stable operation. A power output of 5 W across theband (with a BLW-81 in the PA stage)using a 12.6 V power supply. Require just a few simple hand toolsand a minimum of test equipmentInitial StepsBefore you start heating up your sol-dering iron. I suggest you read this en-tire article and familiarize yourself withthe original 1210 tune-up procedure asoutlined in the Ten-Tec manual.
If youdon't have the manual, get one! Also, getand use the proper tuning tool for theslug-tuned coils and get the feel of tun-ing the unit's different stages. (If youdon't use the proper tool for tuning thesecoils, you're likely to break their pow-dered-iron slugs.) For receiver alignment,you'll need a signal generator or a localbeacon to provide you with a stable, con-stant signal level. To tune the transmit-ter, you'll require an RF-oulput meter; themore sensitive, the better. Consult theTen-Tec manual for references to aid youand refer to the description of the dupli-cated RF detector mentioned later. Takea look at the 'Parts List' sidebar andgather the components you'll need. Inaddition to your soldering iron, youshould have a solder-removing tool and/or wicking as you'll need to remove somecomponents and replace them with oth-ers having different values.Pay attention to the tuning of the lo-cal-oscillator (LO) output stage and howthat tuning affects the transverter's poweroutput and the receiver section's perfor-mance.
After conversion, you'll likelyfind that the most critical tuning is thatof the LO's push-pull output stage. That'sbecause we'll (hen be using it as alriplerto reach 222 MHz. As outlined in theT-Kit instruction manual, make somevoltage measurements at various pointsin a properly working unit while it is stilloperating on 2 meters. If you have notalready done so, record these readings forreference: there's space provided on page27 of the manual.
Pay particular atten-tion to the voltages in the LO chain, es-pecially the levels measured al TP1 andthe emitters of Q4 and Q5 during thePhase 1.0 Progress Test described in theadded. Once the mixer components areadded, making measurements at TP1 isextremely difficult. When the conversionis complete, your records can be used toaid tune-up on 222 MHz.Getting to WorkIn the following steps, refer to the sche-matic in Figure I, the other accompanyinggraphics and those in your Ten-Tec 1210manual. The components involved in themodification and their new values and/orwiring are shown in heavy lines and boldtype in Figure 1.First, remove the PC board from itsenclosure. This involves removing theregulator IC and the driver and PA tran-sistors from their heat-sink shelf. Removethe screws near two corners of the PCboard, the two screws at the PA transis-tor and one screw at the regulator IC anddriver transistor.
Remove the large nut onMay 2001 QST- Copyright © 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc.All Rights Reservedto oa: cm°g WvS 5.IIQ ft.Figure 1 — Schematic of the Ten-Tec 121010-meter to 2-meter transverter prototypemodified for 222-MHz operation. Thecomponents involved in the modificationand their new values are shown in heavylines and bold print. Parts are availablefrom a number of suppliers; see the'Parts List' sidebar. Equivalent parts canbe substituted; n.c. Indicates noconnection.Parts ListComponents with an A suffix are eitheradded units or duplicates ol existingcomponents. Other components listedare either direct replacements for exist-ing parts or are modified parts.
Unofficial TenTec PagesModelsClick on the small picture for a larger one (if available)Click on the Model Number for a SPEC sheet1001Universal Low-Noise Broadband RF Preamp Kit, Untuned1054Regenerative 4-Band SWL Receiver Kit, includes front panel, no enclosure.1056'Any Band' Direct-Conversion SSB/CW Receiver Kit, No enclosureLinear Switch Kit for Argosy114Audio Filter for Argosy IICircuit BreakerCircuit Breaker 7amp $8.75 when new1179DC Circuit Breaker, Century 22120HF-SSB Manpack Tranceiver, Available in three modeks that operate in 3-5mhz, 5-8mhz or 8-12mhz bands. 20 watts PEP with self-contained rechargeable ni-cad. Built-in Antenna.