Just won another one of these...dunno what I'm going to do with it yet.

[timbo]

I already have one but at what I was able to get this at, I could flip it on QRZ and make a little extra scratch.

It's a great box. It's basically a central control station for three rigs. I have my TS-590sg, TS-850s and my TS-520s hooked up to the one I own now.

This one that I won on fleabay supposedly doesn't work but there isn't much that can wrong in these boxes...it's all switches and three pots, no active components in it, not even an LED on the front panel.

I reached out to Julius, W2IHY and he said if there really is something wrong with it, he'll help me through troubleshooting it but he said there is almost nothing that can wrong with it. He told me that most of the issues with these are the owners not willing to RTFM first.

 

[northny]

RTFM.

 

[timbo]

RTFM.

His exact words

 

[northny]

It’s technical term I learned studying for my license

 

[timbo]

When I worked at HRO in the 90's I wanted to ask every person that asked how to use their radio if they had RTFM yet...but I didn't. The powers that be would've most likely frowned upon that...no sense of humor came from the corporate offices in Burlingame, CA.

 

[drgrant]

Is this one of those noise canceling devices of course people expect to just turn it on and then the stuff will just disappear without understanding how it works and all of the other accoutrement required to get a device like that to work correctly..... it's like buying an antenna tuner and then wondering why it sucks when you don't have a ground rod attached to the ass end of the thing.....

 

[timbo]

Is this one of those noise canceling devices of course people expect to just turn it on and then the stuff will just disappear without understanding how it works and all of the other accoutrement required to get a device like that to work correctly..... it's like buying an antenna tuner and then wondering why it sucks when you don't have a ground rod attached to the ass end of the thing.....

so very true...

 

[timbo]

Is this one of those noise canceling devices of course people expect to just turn it on and then the stuff will just disappear without understanding how it works and all of the other accoutrement required to get a device like that to work correctly..... it's like buying an antenna tuner and then wondering why it sucks when you don't have a ground rod attached to the ass end of the thing.....

I just reread your comment and realized it was a question (I think)...Irony is on me about not reading the effing manual, as it were... . I didn't read your comment/question well enough...reading comprehension...gone!

Anyway, no, it's not one of those DSP noise filter thingies. I do have one of those parked in a box in the barn somewhere. It was a kit that I assembled years ago (W9GR, I think designed it). It actually works pretty well considering it's an early generation audio chain DSP as opposed to the newer DSP's buried in the IF/RF circuitry in the radio itself. I used it on my TS-520s on CW for years. I built it in the handiest enclosure I had on hand (read "ugly" enclosure). If I drag it out again, I'll reinstall it in a prettier enclosure.

Back to the iPlus box...it's essentially a switch box that switches up to three radios using one common mic/speaker/PTT to amp and microphone level adjust so in essence, I can have one mic on three radios, three radios to one speaker and three radios to one amp. If I decide to keep the iPlus I won on ebay, I can add 2 more rigs to the morass of switches.

 

[timbo]

So, I received it and the seller was correct...doesn't work. Check out the picture:



Fortunately the guy that builds and sells these was kind enough to send me a schematic and the PCBs are well marked with silk screening so it won't be an issue to redo the wiring, just a bit time consuming.

I'm always amazed when I see this kind of stuff and wonder what possesses a person to jack up something like this. I and the guy that sells these have no clue what the previous owner was trying to do. The guy that I bought it from said he bought it from an estate. It had a post-it note stuck to it that said "doesn't work".

No shit Sherlock.

 

[drgrant]

So, I received it and the seller was correct...doesn't work. Check out the picture:

View attachment 783420

Fortunately the guy that builds and sells these was kind enough to send me a schematic and the PCBs are well marked with silk screening so it won't be an issue to redo the wiring, just a bit time consuming.

I'm always amazed when I see this kind of stuff and wonder what possesses a person to jack up something like this. I and the guy that sells these have no clue what the previous owner was trying to do. The guy that I bought it from said he bought it from an estate. It had a post-it note stuck to it that said "doesn't work". No shit Sherlock.

Julius seems like a decent guy, years ago I heard him talking tech with a few people on 80m ssb, trying to help them out etc. It's one of those things where it's like wow this guy actually cares about this product how well it works and how well its shielded and that kind of thing... a lot of people are in it just to make a quick buck but in this case he obviously is trying to have products that fit needs that aren't being addressed by anything else.

 

[timbo]

Julius seems like a decent guy, years ago I heard him talking tech with a few people on 80m ssb, trying to help them out etc. It's one of those things where it's like wow this guy actually cares about this product how well it works and how well its shielded and that kind of thing... a lot of people are in it just to make a quick buck but in this case he obviously is trying to have products that fit needs that aren't being addressed by anything else.

I agree...I've chatted with him on the phone a few times and you're right, he is a great guy and willing to bend over backwards to help people that own his stuff. It's funny when I won this box I emailed him and told him I won it on eBay. His response when I told him the seller said in the description that it didn't work was confusion. He said there's nothing to go wrong in there...well I got it and opened up and the picture I posted here is what greeted me. When I sent him the picture, his initial response was WTF??? He offered for me to send it to him and he'd fix it up for me gratis but I told him thanks and that I have the technology to fix it here and it will save me $20 in shipping costs and him time. I figure it will take me an hour or so to fix it, maybe a bit longer if I take my time. I only paid $40 for it. If I decide to sell it, I could easily double or even triple my money unless I decide to donate it to one of you miscreants here on this ham radio sub forum.

 

[ToddDubya]

I assume those wires are supposed to reach that circuit board. I looks like someone cut them with a rolling pin.

 

[timbo]

I assume those wires are supposed to reach that circuit board. I looks like someone cut them with a rolling pin.

Yep….I just ordered some 26awg PTFE insulated wire to rewire it…should
be here tomorrow.