After a year of trouble-free service, my DirecTV R15 DVR/Receiver began to throw out strong (S9 or better) noise that showed up roughly every 37 KHz and it was particularly strong on the lower HF bands.  Disconnecting the coax feed from the dish at the back of the receiver eliminated the noise, but this solution was not popular with the rest of my family.

Several months later, the audio and video began to  freeze intermittently, accompanied by an on-screen message that the satellite signal was lost.  A reset cured the problem, but it came back a week later.  Finally, the receiver refused to power up one day, and the only sign of life was a rapid flashing of the LED's in the Power and Record buttons, accompanied by a popping (roughly 2 per second) in the audio.

A call to DirecTV brought a replacement receiver (HD DVR) and I am pleased to report that the RFI has also disappeared.

Just wanted to post this for anyone having the same problem, now or in the future.  My thanks to eHam for keeping archives and making them searchable!

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI
http://www.k9uw.com

Go to http://www.mods.dk/ and create a free account.  This free account will permit you to download one document every 4 days.  

They do have a 75A-2 manual (two, actually - perhaps one is the service manual?) on thir site at:
http://www.mods.dk/manual.php?brand=collins

BE CAREFUL!  Simply clicking on a download link counts as an attempt and you'll have to wait 4 days to try again if you have already exhausted your one free download!

Ask me how I know.....

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

As a DXer I LOVE DXLabs but, before I found it, I tried just about everything out there.  For your purposes, I concur with the suggestion that you look at ACLog by N3FJP.  It is simple to use, inexpensive, and the support is first rate.  It is also powerful enough to accommodate your interests and needs as they evolve.

In fact, I use N3FJP's contest modules for contesting and import the resulting logs into DXLabs.

No one product will meet everyone's needs or preferences.  Trying it out will tell you what you need to know.

73, de K9UW

Hi Bruce.  The tour schedule is online at http://www.lstmemorial.org/events.htm.

No mention of radio operation.

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxlab/message/36911

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

Like you, I obtained a low serial number '930 and it was suffering from numerous problems.  I did two things to crawl out from under...

One was the purchase and installation of the Piexx board to replace the rig's original digital board.  The other was boxing up the rig and shipping it off to LPC Wireless.  

The real reaons I'm writing, Jan, is to tell you that I have the 930's service manual in PDF format.  The files are HUGE.  The are 5 of them, and they range from 3.6 meg to over 67 meg.  I'd be happy to mail you a CD if you think it would help you.

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI
k9uw at wi-net dot com

Hi Jeff:

The "Loop Skywire" article that appeared in QST back in 1984 (November issue, if I remember right) suggested that 160 meter operation could be achieved with an 80 meter loop by shorting feedlinbe at the shack end, essentially creating a top-loaded vertical for 160.  Performance would depend on how much feedline you have and what kind of ground you can come up with to feed the antenna against.

I used an 80 meter loop at a previous QTH here in Wisconsin but found it wanting on 160 meters for transmitting as my loop was only 20' high.  The aforementioned article suggested that at least 40' of vertical feedline would be necessary for acceptable 160 performance, so my experience was to be expected.

Later, I erected a 160 inverted Vee with the apex at 70' and it turned out to be vastly superior to the loop on 160 in MOST respects.  One night I was listening to some east coast stations working EU DX but I could not hear the DX station on my Inverted Vee because he was buried in the noise.  When I switched to the 80 meter loop, I was amazed to discover that I was able to copy the DX station.  As you might expect, the ambient noise level dropped off significantly, but the signal to noise ratio improved and I was actually able to work the DX station by transmitting on the Inverted Vee and listening on the loop.  Lots of credit had to go to the DX station's listening skills, as I was running barefoot, but my loop enabled me to hear the DX in the first place.

Good luck with your quest for a 160 antenna!

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

Depending on the wind load of that 13' yagi, you might be overloading the 64' BX tower.  It has been many years since I erected my HBX-56 tower (in service since 1986) but, if memory serves, the 56' tower was rated for 10 square feet of wind load PRESUMING a maximum boom length of 10'.  By adding another 8' of tower to reach the 64' level, the rated wind load drops considerably.  Again, if I remember correctly, the BX-64 has a wind load rating of only 5 square feet and was intended primarily for television antennas.  I'd encourage you to consider skipping the top section and going to 56' instead.  Then you'll have the HBX-56, a more robust situation capable of sustaining the antenna farm you described.  If you go the 56' route, by the way, you will need new top and rotor plates.  Regardless of the height you ultimately erect, I would strongly recommend installing to the manufacturer's specifications.
I don't believe that Rohn makes the BX series any more, but dealers might have plates in stock and should be good sources of information regarding practical limits.

73, de Mike, K9UW

Hi Gene:

As a user of two different on-glass antennas, I would not hesitate to use another.  Your milage may vary, but I have found them to offer good performance.  Granted, drilling a hold might provide an enhancement but, again in my experience, the benefit is too small and my roof mounted antennas drove me crazy when they howled in the wind.

I've had the Larsen dual band on glass antenna, but it might be too tall for your application.  My other on glass antenna is mounted on a side window on my 1996 Windstar.  The antenna is only 23" tall (a cell phone antenna look-alike) yet it has performed exceptionally well.  Look at the current AES catalog (page 105) for the Antenna Specialists APR-143.  The only caution regarding this antenna is that the manufacturer recommends grounding the coax shield inside the vehicle, which I managed to do by popping open the trim above the window and installing a small sheet metal screw in a pre-drilled hole.  The trim concealed the connection and performance, as previously stated, is very good - matching or exceeding a 1/4 wave mag mount.  This antenna has been in service, on two different vehicles, for over 10 years!

73, de Mike, K9UW

The length of your intended ground wire will probably end up, as suggested by others, actually radiating RF and causing problems.  A potential cure for this is to employ a "coaxial ground".  I first read about this many years ago in a borrowed issue of 73 magazine but have had trouble finding any literature since.  

If I recall correctly (and it has been a LONG time since I read about this), one uses a length of coax cable to connect the rig to earth, but a .01 MFD 1000 volt ceramic disc capacitor is soldered between the center conductor and the shield of the coax at each end, reducing the electrical length of the coax to a small fraction of its physical length.  The coax should be RG-8, but its age or overall condition are less critical than making sure that the shielding is 90% or greater.  This is a great application for that older coax that you remove from service because it has been outdoors for 20 years! Keep the capacitor leads short.

I just located a drawing of this on the web at:

https://www.cahaba.net/~thewirem/prodpix4.html

If the capacitors are hard to find, you can obtain them at:

https://www.cahaba.net/~thewirem/ground.html

It is important to recognize the distinction between an electrical ground and RF ground!  The electrical ground is usually provided by the 3 prong power plug into the AC outlet.  While any length of ground may protect you from an electrical shock, RF ground is another matter.  Any RF ground exceeding 1/8 wavelength on your operating frequency could radiate, so this creates a real problem on 10 meters!  All the more reason to experiment with the coaxial ground.

Counterpoises, cut for the bands you operate, may also alleviate problems.

Half the fun of ham radio lies in the experimentation.  Have at it!

The TS-520 is a fine radio and you'll enjoy it.  In my own experience, the radio has less impact on interference potential (assuming it is reasonably modern!) than the quality of cable connections and the ground system itself.

Have fun with that 520.  I have fond memories of one that I borrowed in my novice days.

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

Your query brought a smile and many happy memories of my first paddles.

As a lefty, I simply learned to use the paddles "out of the box" and didn't find out (until much later) that the paddles were wired, by default, for a right handed user.  I send dits with my index finger and dahs with my thumb.  One advantage of learning to send with the stock configuration is that you'll be able to use paddles in other ham's shacks and at field day without having to pack your own.

In my own shack, my left elbow and forearm rest on the desk and cross in front of my body, with the paddles to the right and about a foot in from the dege of the desk.  My right arm hand is free to operate equipment.  

If you're like me, you prefer to use your left hand for virtually anything requiring finesse and the right hand exists only to fill a sleeve and help get food into your mouth.  I've found, though, that the right hand can be taught to do some primitive things, like turning knobs and flicking switches, while the left hand tackles the tasks requiring greater dexterity.  Sending right-handed to preserve the use of your dominant hand for operating equipment might not be the best approach, but only you can make that final decision.

Not sure what you'll be using for a keyer.  My rig has one built in but I picked up a Logikeyer and found that one of its features is the ability to "reverse" the dit and dah function of the respective paddles.  Possibly food for thought?

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI

Depends on which sections comprise your 48' of tower.  The BX series of towers consist of eight 8' sections, each tapering down from a large base.  If memory serves, the bottom section was labeled #8 and the very top section was labeled #1.  I own the HBX 56, which is sections 2-8.  The "H" presumes to infer that it is "Heavy Duty".  It is possible that your 48'BX tower is made up for sections 3-8.  The 48' tower was often sold as the "HDBX" to the ham community.  See http://members.tripod.com/~rohntowers/rohn.html for details.

In my own installation, the HBX 56 has served admirably since 1986.  It supports a KLM KT34A tirbander with 6 square feet of windload and a 16' boom.  My mast extends to 80' and supports the feedpoint of my 160 meter inverted vee.  I also have an 11 element 2 meter yagi at 60'.  

Rohn warns against using antennas with boom lengths exceeding 10', fearing the twisting loads created by larger arrays rocking to and fro in the wind.  Apparently, the repeated motion can twist the tower and weaken or destroy the rivets that hold this tower together.

In my own case, I drilled out all of the rivets in the top section and replaced them with stainless steel AN hardware prior to erecting the tower.  I inspect these bolts annually and, to date, I have not found any evidence of damage.

Best wishes with your tower!

I'm the trustee of a club station on a university campus where the shack is in the basement of one building and the antenna farm is on the roof of a 4 story building next door.  The coax run is 250 feet!

We used to run a tribander for 20/15/10 and a horizontal loop for the other HF bands.  The flat roof has a copper flashing around the perimeter.  We mounted the loop on metal poles that were bolted to the building and the wire was less than 6' above that flashing.  The setup does not sound very good, does it?

Performance, however, has been quite good.  From our location in Wisconsin, we routinely work the entire continent on 80 meters and it gets better as we go up in frequency.  Performance has been so good, in fact, that we pulled the Tribander and use the tower space for VHF and UHF antennas instead.

This station gets minimal use so we did not pursue options one might consider for a station that would get extensive air time.  The coax feeds the antenna without a balun and the rig's built in tuner enables us to operate on all bands from 80-10.  I'm sure that the length of the coax plays a role here, but my point is that the antenna works and, considering the circumstances, it works surprisingly well.

The building that supports the loop is the university's boiler house and it contains a lot of equipment that one would expect to generate noise.  We've been especially pleased with the loop in that reception is much quieter than the dipoles we'd used in the past and the noise is no longer an issue.

Go for it.  I think you'll be pleased!

Try Total Electronics.  They're on the web at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nc/totalelectronics/

I burrowed into their web site and found this reference to Kenwood paint.  It looks to be a matter of determining which HF rig's paint matches that on the 922:

KENWOOD RADIO COMPANY
#440 Kenwood TS-440, 940, 450, 950, R1000/5000, Metallic Gray
#441 Kenwood TS-520/530/820/830 Semigloss Light Solid Gray
#443 Kenwood TS-700 Radios

This is a source well known in the boatanchor community.

73, de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI