Yes, it could be a bad cap, but first I'd look at the connections between the board and the cap.  The heat generated was more than likely beacuse of a bad or weak connection.  

If the connections are screwed through the board (Not sure about this, but I've seen it done) the fix would be to take it apart (discharge the cap first....ouch!) clean the board and the cap terminals and put it together again.  One trick I've seen done is to flow a VERY thin layer of solder on the connection points of the circuit board and tighten the cap terminal screw against it.  It seems to make a better connection.  DON'T FORGET TO CLEAN THE SCREW THREADS AS WELL AS UNDER THE SCREW HEAD.  

If the connections are soldered, again discharge the cap and reflow the solder at the connections.  If it doesn't seem to want to flow easily, disassemble and clean the terminals and then reconnect, making sure you have a good soldered connection.

Leaving the board discolored is no big deal as long as the tracings are OK, but if the end of the cap is also discolored from heating, best replace it.

Good luck, and remember, discharge those caps first!

73!

 

"Have often envisualized two conductive spheres separated by free space, one of these days..."

Careful......  Spark gap is not legal now!  ;-))

"Which would tend to lend credence to Oliver Heaviside's theories anent Hertzian antennas. Sometimes old theory is better than new theory."

Only sometimes??  I find new theory concerning ham antennas to be either one of two things:

1.  Old theory hidden in new terminology
or
2.  Hogwash--or close to it.


Take your pick!

I saw this thread late and I'm not trying to be flip, but I know someone who put a short tower on top of his garage.  He homemade a base for it and guyed it properly, but when he climbed it to install the antenna, he 'installed' the tower in the back seat of his wife's car!  Luckily he wasn't badly hurt--until his wife got hold of him!

Needless to say, there is no tower at his house now--he makes due with push-up masting.  His wife didn't like her new sunroof one bit!!

73 and have fun, but be safe, not sorry.

Check into the testing locations--usually the tests are held on the same day of the month, ex: Third Thursday, Second Saturday, etc.

It should be easier if you look at the testing locations in that way.  If you find out you're going to be in 'Thatcity' on a certain day, see if there's a test site there on that day.

It is tough when you're constantly on the go--but if you don't have a personal assistant, you've got to do the finding out.

"::In this case, unplug rig from its power supply and substitute a 12V car battery instead. If you still hear the noise, it's not the power line. This is the first step everyone should take when they believe they have conducted line noise."

Just eliminating the AC power and substituting a battery won't tell you much--substituting a battery and then shutting off the main breakers will tell you more.

If just substituting a battery eliminates the noise, the problem may be the power supply (I know you said two supplies) or the wiring to it--or in your shack.  If the noise continues but stops when you throw the main breaker, the problem is in your house wiring or one or more of the the devices in your house.  If the noise still doesn't stop, the problem is most likely not in your house, but nearby.

There are other things to look for as well.  In your home, if you have an uninterruptable power supply for your computer, try shutting that down and unplugging it.  Sometimes the circuitry goes bad in those.  Dimmers, flourescent bulbs, certain high intensity lights may be the culprit.  

A lot of TVs and stereo systems, and today even appliances use microcontrollers--all of which may use RF to operate--are other possible sources of noise.  Wall warts--those switching power supplies that power radios, computer speakers--heck, even cel phone chargers are all potential noise sources that a lot of people overlook.

Eliminating noise sources is a time consuming step by step process that yields results--unless you bypass steps or jump from one thing to another.  If you do that, it becomes an exercise in futility--unless you get lucky and stumble on the noise source by chance.

Good luck!

Several sites on the internet list used books and other items--amazon.com is one of them.  Run a google search on the titles and I bet you you'll find them all.

An ohmmeter won't do you much good--it will only tell you if theres continuity.  You need an antenna analyzer to do the job properly.

Check the Whirlpool website.  I believe there was a recall or a class action notice on the Whirlpool Cabrio.  Whether or not it was concerning the timer I don't know.

Good luck--by the way, I'd agree with the poster who said to return it.  When it is not running it shouldn't be producing that noise.

More simple logic.......  The standard phonetic alphabet is known to radio operators, the fancy substitutes are not.  Use the substitutes and the reason for the use of the phonetic alphabet gets thrown out the nearest window.

The phonetic alphabet was instituted for clarifying spelling, use substitutes and you still may not be understood clearly.  Use the standard phonetic alphabet and 99 times out of 100 you will be.

One thing to remember is that 70 cm is a secondary allocation to ham operations--the military has first allocation.  In my area right now, the Pave Paws early warning radar system uses that band and has asked for the co-operation of hams to keep our power output low to minimize interference.  

It seems that Pave Paws just underwent an upgrade and the extra sensitivity it now has also means it is more susceptable to interference from us.  So in southeastern Massachusetts and also in two areas in California, power output on the 440 band is lower now, which also means less range and less useage in those areas.

Hey there!  I bet you would have just not even bothered if you had to go to an FCC office to get your testing and license.  In those days you HAD to do it their way or no way at all!!

Seriously though, if someone wants to get to a testing session and can't seem to find one, contact the ARRL to find a ham radio club in your area, and then get in touch with them.  Chances are someone there will know of several testing sites in the immediate area, one of which just maybe will fit your schedule.

The problem with a natural gas generator is the incoming gas supply must be sufficient to run the generator.  I obtained a used conversion unit that the owner couldn't get running right for pennies on the dollar.  I found that it had to have a supply of at least 8 PSI on the gas inlet just to run--the street gas supply in my area is usually at the 4 or 5 PSI level.

A gas concentrator was available--but at the cost, it was better to just reconvert the unit to gasolene--which was what I did.

Another item to consider is that a conversion unit will wear out much faster than a unit made especially for natural gas hookup.  Gasoline has a lubricating capacity that natural gas does not have, so in effect you're running the generator 'dry', and the cylinder, piston and rings will wear much faster.

Tri-fuel generators may be nice because if you run out of one fuel you can use another, but if you don't buy a tri-fuel especially designed for the purpose and get a 'converted' unit, you may find you'll be stuck with a non-useable generator set when you need it most.  

There are procedures that may be used to guarantee the reports--one is NOT to use a spotter number unless you are communicating by private means such as a telephone call.  On the air, identification by callsign alone is sufficient.  During a skywarn spotter seminar I attended, it was mentioned IT IS BETTER NOT TO GIVE YOUR SPOTTER NUMBER OUT OVER THE AIR because others could pick up on it and use it--and you get identified as the source of the report.

During a skywarn alert, if ham operators have had any communication with their group, they are known by their voice and 'style', not to mention their callsign.  That is identification enough to verify the source of the report--there is no need to throw in a spotter number when reporting over the radio.

Nowadays, common sense is dying a slow horrible death.  These points I just made should be apparant to everyone who is in a position of authority in the skywarn system or in ARES.  Maybe there should be a course or seminar in common sense as well as one in weather spotting.

".....the REAL DEAL on ELECTRICALLY grounding a portable generator....."

No matter what may be the real deal, the codes still say different.  See my last post--you can do it any way you want.  Just pray nothing happens to cause injury or death, because if it does you will wish you would have gone by the National and State electrical codes.