This FT290R, originally built in 1982, gets a new relay as it enters its 35th year. I now look forward to the next 35 years of 2m CW activity. Keep on keying!
Very nice explanation thank you. I have two second hand FT290's, one is perfect the other only Tx's and Rx's on FM and LSB. USB and CW don't work. My theory is that the Carrier Balance adjustment is "out" and my suspicion grew markedly when I saw that the pot for adjusting the carrier nulling for the two sidbands (VR1001) is just about the easiest accessible pot in the rig! Its not helped by being rather corroded with verdigrees - green colouration. I'm going to try adjusting this pot when monitoring the carrier level on the other 290. Full marks for keeping your rig going - mine are both nearly 40 years old!
Thank you for your comment. They are quite compact but it is possible to get to everything for diagnosis and repair. It may also be worth checking the DC conditions on the PCB for all settings of the mode switch. I have a motto that if the DC conditions are wrong, it will never work. Some of the wiring will be fragile after 40 years! I hope you get it all sorted. Regards, Graham de G4VUX
Thanks Graham. Well I tried incrementing VR1001 both ways, but it made no difference so I returned it to the original position. So I then looked for the circuitry which is unique to SSB/CW (FM appears fine). I'm homing in on the 10.81MHz local oscillator based around Q1013 (2SC2603E). However i can't find this on my (terrible copy) circuit diagram. May I ask where you obtained your superb PDF diagram? I will check the voltages as you suggest. Thank you. Peter G0LQU
Hello Peter, It's great to hear from you again. I'm not sure exactly where I downloaded the schematic from but I have found this one for the FT290R which occupies only three sheets, maybe it will be helpful to you www.iw2nmx.it/Yaesu/FT-290R/FT-290R%20Schematic.pdf The interesting thing about your unit is that it LSB is working but not USB and CW, that's a significant clue. I do hope you manage to fix it. I will try to find my PDF print out and have another look in the coming days, there must be a common denominator which will lead to the fault. Best Regards, Graham G4VUX
Hello again Graham. That's excellent thank you - I'll print the three sheets A3 and join up the printouts. Yes, that fault must surely give me a clue - I am looking in the area of the local oscillator based around Q1013 to check this is working, then to the balanced modulator MC14696. This should give an IF DSB signal on the Tx path at 10.81MHz by mixing the audio signal with the 10.81 carrier. I think a big clue is the next stage where the DSB signal is passed to a crystal filter XF1002 (10F2D) "which slices off the unwanted sideband" - presulably seelcted by the mode switch. I assume this all works in reverse for Rx. As well as the signals I'll be checking the voltages as you suggest. My main problem is that I find getting at the components is quite difficult but I will take it steadily and persevere!
Hi Graham, I have one of these beauties which I'm about to try and convert to the Australian 2m amateur band of 144-148MHz. It's a poor beaten up old thing, and needs the LCD replacing as well. It's about time I showed it some TLC. Thanks for the informative and interesting video!
Hello Matt, Thanks for your comment, it's great to hear from you! The FT-290 is very well made and reasonably easy to work on. I hope the display repair and frequency range extension goes well for you. Kind Regards, Graham de G4VUX
Hey Graham, Thanks for the words of encouragement! I opened up the band to 144-148MHz and altered the steps from 25/12.5 to 10/5 so I can use it for satellite work. I also managed to get nearly a fist-sized ball of black electrical tape and sellotape out of it that the previous owner had "repaired" it with! My plan is to disassemble the LCD and clean the contacts to the display with methylated spirits. Fortunately, it doesn't suffer from the darkening that a lot of FT-290R's do, just missing segments. This is the most risky operation as if I bugger this up, the radio is effectively unusable. She's seen some abuse (the poor old thing), but hopefully I can return her to her former glory.
Matt, Congrats on the frequency mod - good work! I too have found that missing segments are normally caused by faulty connections. I hope it goes well for you and that you enjoy the satellite activity. 73, Graham de G4VUX
Hi Graham very interesting video you have some nice test gear there and the fix with a 12v relay is original,, i wonder if you ever had the fault my mate has encountered that is his ft290r seems to only want to tx and rx on 1 freq around 143 megs..the output is practically none existent..we have a good ft290 to compare results. what i found is that the voltage on q3008 which feeds up to varicap diode on the good rig is varying from 1.8v . 3.2v on the faulty one there is no change? it also seems that the ref crystal across pins 2>3 5.6mhz is not oscillating also the voltage on pin 8 is just over 5v which is low on the good one...the chip crystal have all been changed...sorry to butt in but i thought i would ask if you or any of the bloggers may have had a simerla fault? thankyou paul g4sbx
Dear Paul, Thank you for your comment. I’ve had a look at this. The 5V on Q3006 pin 8 is trying to force the VCO (Q3001) to go up in frequency; in this case, possibly above it’s limit. There are countless possible reasons for this and I will not even start a diagnosis because there are so many variables. The only thing I will say is that, regardless of the programming data, the oscillator in Q3001 should be running. It is a simple inverter circuit with the crystal between the input and output pins (2 and 3). I would expect to see a signal here. If you’re sure it’s not oscillating, you could try replacing the 33pF capacitors, C31 and C32 but don’t hold your breath! I’m sorry I can’t offer more help but I get lots of requests and I simply don’t have time to follow them up. I wish you success and if you do sort it out, please post the solution here as it may help someone else. Best Regards, Graham de G4VUX
Paddy Roche - Thanks for your comment. It's really only basic electronics which is covered in the Advanced Course. Here's to another few decades of reliable service from this superb little radio ! 73 Graham de G4VUX
Hi Graham, thank you for taking the time to produce such a nice video and explanation together. I wasn't quite sure if you were implying that if you were using CW that you would have to switch-on the transmitter separately than other than just keying the key? The CW key circuit should engage the transmitter and if its not then you've got some more fault finding to do I suspect. Interestingly I have three FT-290R1with exactly that problem: no TX from the CW being keyed.
Dear David, Many thanks for your comment. It is the case that PTT has to be enabled before keying in CW mode. The FT290 Instruction Manual can be found here www.radiomanual.info/schemi/FT290R_user.pdf . The instruction to 'close the PTT switch' via the Stand By jack socket or the Microphone connector is covered on Page 18. I select PTT via the Stand By jack using the TX/RX switch on the front panel of my my CW keyer which you can see on top of the signal generator at minute 9:13 et seq in the video. This means that your rigs are working normally in this respect ! 73, Graham de G4VUX
Knock yourself up a footswitch, then put your foot down before you key up and then release it when you've finished so that you can hear your contact. It's in the manual which is freely available on line.
So goes around the houses to fit a 12v relay in place of a common relay you can pick easily, transmits CW from a 290 but hasn't got the telescopic antenna in so doesn't have the correct tuned PA circuit.. and someone said you're an Amateur.....yup, you really are..
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Very nice explanation thank you. I have two second hand FT290's, one is perfect the other only Tx's and Rx's on FM and LSB. USB and CW don't work. My theory is that the Carrier Balance adjustment is "out" and my suspicion grew markedly when I saw that the pot for adjusting the carrier nulling for the two sidbands (VR1001) is just about the easiest accessible pot in the rig! Its not helped by being rather corroded with verdigrees - green colouration. I'm going to try adjusting this pot when monitoring the carrier level on the other 290. Full marks for keeping your rig going - mine are both nearly 40 years old!
Thank you for your comment. They are quite compact but it is possible to get to everything for diagnosis and repair. It may also be worth checking the DC conditions on the PCB for all settings of the mode switch. I have a motto that if the DC conditions are wrong, it will never work. Some of the wiring will be fragile after 40 years! I hope you get it all sorted. Regards, Graham de G4VUX
Thanks Graham. Well I tried incrementing VR1001 both ways, but it made no difference so I returned it to the original position. So I then looked for the circuitry which is unique to SSB/CW (FM appears fine). I'm homing in on the 10.81MHz local oscillator based around Q1013 (2SC2603E). However i can't find this on my (terrible copy) circuit diagram. May I ask where you obtained your superb PDF diagram?
I will check the voltages as you suggest.
Thank you. Peter G0LQU
Hello Peter, It's great to hear from you again. I'm not sure exactly where I downloaded the schematic from but I have found this one for the FT290R which occupies only three sheets, maybe it will be helpful to you www.iw2nmx.it/Yaesu/FT-290R/FT-290R%20Schematic.pdf The interesting thing about your unit is that it LSB is working but not USB and CW, that's a significant clue. I do hope you manage to fix it. I will try to find my PDF print out and have another look in the coming days, there must be a common denominator which will lead to the fault. Best Regards, Graham G4VUX
Hello again Graham. That's excellent thank you - I'll print the three sheets A3 and join up the printouts. Yes, that fault must surely give me a clue - I am looking in the area of the local oscillator based around Q1013 to check this is working, then to the balanced modulator MC14696. This should give an IF DSB signal on the Tx path at 10.81MHz by mixing the audio signal with the 10.81 carrier. I think a big clue is the next stage where the DSB signal is passed to a crystal filter XF1002 (10F2D) "which slices off the unwanted sideband" - presulably seelcted by the mode switch. I assume this all works in reverse for Rx. As well as the signals I'll be checking the voltages as you suggest. My main problem is that I find getting at the components is quite difficult but I will take it steadily and persevere!
Hi Graham,
I have one of these beauties which I'm about to try and convert to the Australian 2m amateur band of 144-148MHz.
It's a poor beaten up old thing, and needs the LCD replacing as well. It's about time I showed it some TLC.
Thanks for the informative and interesting video!
Hello Matt, Thanks for your comment, it's great to hear from you! The FT-290 is very well made and reasonably easy to work on. I hope the display repair and frequency range extension goes well for you. Kind Regards, Graham de G4VUX
Hey Graham,
Thanks for the words of encouragement! I opened up the band to 144-148MHz and altered the steps from 25/12.5 to 10/5 so I can use it for satellite work. I also managed to get nearly a fist-sized ball of black electrical tape and sellotape out of it that the previous owner had "repaired" it with!
My plan is to disassemble the LCD and clean the contacts to the display with methylated spirits. Fortunately, it doesn't suffer from the darkening that a lot of FT-290R's do, just missing segments. This is the most risky operation as if I bugger this up, the radio is effectively unusable.
She's seen some abuse (the poor old thing), but hopefully I can return her to her former glory.
Matt, Congrats on the frequency mod - good work! I too have found that missing segments are normally caused by faulty connections. I hope it goes well for you and that you enjoy the satellite activity. 73, Graham de G4VUX
Hi Graham very interesting video you have some nice test gear there and the fix with a 12v relay is original,, i wonder if you ever had the fault my mate has encountered that is his ft290r seems to only want to tx and rx on 1 freq around 143 megs..the output is practically none existent..we have a good ft290 to compare results. what i found is that the voltage on q3008 which feeds up to varicap diode on the good rig is varying from 1.8v . 3.2v on the faulty one there is no change? it also seems that the ref crystal across pins 2>3 5.6mhz is not oscillating also the voltage on pin 8 is just over 5v which is low on the good one...the chip crystal have all been changed...sorry to butt in but i thought i would ask if you or any of the bloggers may have had a simerla fault?
thankyou paul g4sbx
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your comment. I’ve had a look at this. The 5V on Q3006 pin 8 is trying to force the VCO (Q3001) to go up in frequency; in this case, possibly above it’s limit. There are countless possible reasons for this and I will not even start a diagnosis because there are so many variables.
The only thing I will say is that, regardless of the programming data, the oscillator in Q3001 should be running. It is a simple inverter circuit with the crystal between the input and output pins (2 and 3). I would expect to see a signal here. If you’re sure it’s not oscillating, you could try replacing the 33pF capacitors, C31 and C32 but don’t hold your breath!
I’m sorry I can’t offer more help but I get lots of requests and I simply don’t have time to follow them up. I wish you success and if you do sort it out, please post the solution here as it may help someone else.
Best Regards,
Graham de G4VUX
Really impressive and they call you an AMATEUR. 73 de 2E0TWD
Paddy Roche - Thanks for your comment. It's really only basic electronics which is covered in the Advanced Course. Here's to another few decades of reliable service from this superb little radio ! 73 Graham de G4VUX
the G5V-1 6VDC OMRON relay is a direct replacement.
Hi Graham, thank you for taking the time to produce such a nice video and explanation together. I wasn't quite sure if you were implying that if you were using CW that you would have to switch-on the transmitter separately than other than just keying the key? The CW key circuit should engage the transmitter and if its not then you've got some more fault finding to do I suspect. Interestingly I have three FT-290R1with exactly that problem: no TX from the CW being keyed.
Dear David, Many thanks for your comment. It is the case that PTT has to be enabled before keying in CW mode. The FT290 Instruction Manual can be found here www.radiomanual.info/schemi/FT290R_user.pdf . The instruction to 'close the PTT switch' via the Stand By jack socket or the Microphone connector is covered on Page 18. I select PTT via the Stand By jack using the TX/RX switch on the front panel of my my CW keyer which you can see on top of the signal generator at minute 9:13 et seq in the video. This means that your rigs are working normally in this respect ! 73, Graham de G4VUX
Quite right, I'll go and stick my head into a bucket :-)
Knock yourself up a footswitch, then put your foot down before you key up and then release it when you've finished so that you can hear your contact.
It's in the manual which is freely available on line.
So goes around the houses to fit a 12v relay in place of a common relay you can pick easily,
transmits CW from a 290 but hasn't got the telescopic antenna in so doesn't have the correct tuned PA circuit..
and someone said you're an Amateur.....yup, you really are..