Luis - we've purchased several houses where we were able to erect our tower and antennas.  The trick is to have your agent put some wording on the sales contract that the sale is contingent on your being able to install a tower and antenna (with descriptions)....that's always done the trick for us, with our last home in a HOA area....although covenants precluded a large satellite dish there was nothing specifically regarding ham radio towers and antennas.  The offer went before the board and they approved my application....too easy.  YMMV!

Dino KL0S

Be really careful when you're probing around the AVR power supply board.  I was hot on the trail of what was causing my 940 not to transmit and I was on the way to the PA board when I was checking the AVR board and inadvertently shorted the supply when measuring the voltage there....then the radio didn't work at all!

Ended up sending it off to Clif at AVVid (check his feedback here on eHam).  Clif is the man when it comes to fixing Kenwood rigs and especially keeping our old faithful 940 friends working.  His rates are VERY reasonable with a quick turn around....highly recommended.

Dino KL0S

I used my C-line with an Apple II and Hal ST-6 in the early '80s as my first digital RTTY station and it worked great.  Wrote an article for 73 magazine describing it all.  Contact me offline if you'd like a copy.  Not an exact fit for the KAM but may give you some interface ideas as the last poster mentioned.

Dino KL0S

Underground utilities are not an absolute guarantee of a RF quiet QTH.  See my experience where it turned out to be an underground connection that was the culprit:

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2003/08/10/1/

Good luck!

73 -- Dino KL0S

Phil -- there own spec sheet describes the isolation method being "transformer" and that indicates to me that the unit should function as you want it to.

You may want to consider a unit like the old Heathkit IP-5220 Isolated Variable Power Supply.  They show up on eBay frequently...that's where I got mine.  Then you'd have both isolation and the ability to vary the AC voltage as needed.

Dino KL0S

I've been using the monitor function on my TS-940S and BM10 for over ten years with no problem at all.  Wonder why yours doesn't function correctly?

Dino KL0S

Correction to my last post....the finals were not taken out by the loss of a driver transistor...repair only required replacing the drivers.

Dino KL0S

Well, a couple of thoughts...

(1) Are you sure the output is only 45 watts?  Make sure that the radio is setup correctly.  For example, if it's in the FSK mode the output is actually controlled by the "Processor Out" control.

(2) If in fact the output is low I'd renegotiate....having said that if you really want a 940 if you get it for a good price you can have it repaired by Clif at AVVid (http://www.avvid.com/) at a reasonable rate [check his feedback here on eHam].

My 940 has been with me since it was new in 1986 and I lost a driver earlier this year which took out the finals.  About $300 to fix and done well by Clif.  I will keep this radio until it absolutely dies; it may be an oldie but it's a goodie!

73 -- Dino KL0S

That's an old documented problem with a very easy fix...

Install a small switching diode (1N914 works fine) between pins 9 and 13 of the ACC 2 jack with the cathode to pin 9.  Once you've done that PTT closures made via the rig's SEND and mic PTT switches will put the radio into transmit WITHOUT muting the mic.  On the other hand when your digital interface grounds pin 13 at ACC 2 to switch to transmit it also grounds pin 9 to mute the mic.

I installed the diode inside the DIN plug that comes from my MicroHam Digi Keyer....it's a little tight but can be done if you're careful.

Dino KL0S

You may want to check out Doug DeMaw's "A Tester for Crystal F, Q and R" in the January 1990 issue of QST (ARRL members can download it from the new QST Archives section).  The article was updated and reprinted in Doug's "W1FB Design Notebook."

I built one a couple of years ago....you can get the PCB from FAR Circuits.  Nice addition to the test gear at the workbench.

Dino KL0S

Any ham anywhere can join the ARRL.

Dino KL0S

The meter lamps in the L-4B are GE 1850:

Miniature Lamp Voltage Rating 5 Volts Trade Lamp Number 1850 Power Rating 0.09A Lamp Description Signal Plane of Filament Perpendicular Candle Power 0.25 Candela Rated Average Life 1500 Hours Base Miniature Bayonet Bulb T-3 1/4 Maximum Overall Length 1.19 Inches

As I recall the #47 is not a direct replacement.

Dino KL0S

Bill -- you're right, I fat-fingered the leads and got 'em backwards.

Hope you can figure it out!

73 -- Dino

Hi Bill....bottom line: if you apply your audio tones to pins 11 and 12 (hot lead to pin 12 and ground lead to pin 11) then toggle over to transmit either by pushing the mic PTT or the "SEND/REC" you SHOULD get modulation; do you by any chance have those leads reversed???

There is no requirement for the diode between pins 9/13; that mod just keeps the mic audio out of the chain if your inputting tones thru ACC2.

I know how frustrating this issue can be....been there, done that, got the tee shirt!

73 -- Dino KL0S

Bill -- the 940S ACCY2 inputs SHOULD work simply as described in the manual.  If you have a breakout cable for a 13-pin DIN you should be able to check each function separately.  Keying can be done either via ACCY2 OR the front panel "Send/Rec" switch.  The 1N914 mod simply decouples the mic audio from the chain and doesn't have anything to do with the keying function.

One way to check if the tones are getting into the rig is to just engage the "Moni" function since you should be operating in a SSB mode (it works the same actually in the FSK position since the rig is really using AFSK -- the mark/space signals are actually audio tones derived from the 20 MHz master oscillator, it's not true FSK but obviously close enough!).

I had a very frustrating keying problem with a cable from one of the big interface manufacturers and it turned out to a missing ground connection in the 13-pin DIN plug as the cable had been incorrectly constructed.  For some reason nothing ever seems easy going to ACCY2 on a 940S!  ;-)

Let us know how it turns out.

Dino KL0S