Updates: FT-102 and Arduino Memory Keyer

By JonathanGuthrie, 16 May, 2014

I have two updates from previous posts. First, Mal just called and said my FT-102 is ready. The problem appears to have been a bad 10 MHz crystal reference oscillator. It wasn't putting out enough signal so the phase comparator wasn't working so the PLL wasn't locking up. I should get the radio back in a week or two, I just have to (gladly!) pay for the repair.

The other update is the keyer is now putting out sound. I added some little yellow wires to the board and discovered a errant trace that was grounding the pin that carried the sidetone signal to the amplifier. Work continues because the volume on the speaker is very low, but at least now I'm getting something. I have also noticed that the capacitor used for DC blocking the output of the amplifier is too large. That shouldn't cause a problem, though. I'm considering ordering new boards and just continuing to debug them, but I figure I'll continue to look at voltages and stuff on this one, first.

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