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TK690 on 6 Meter
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:36 pm
by ka7wnf
Will the TK-690-3 do 6 Meter? I have tinkered with 3 versions of the software and can enter out of band freqs for 790 and 890 versions but when I try 690 it refuses to take anything over 50 Mhz. Is there a trick? There are some 690's on Ebay going real cheap and I would love to have one.
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:01 pm
by n5tbu
The 690's I tried had poor rec specs on 52.525,the radio does not have enough tuning to do 6 meters,now the 630......an awsome radio for 6,I have 5 on six meters.
mod
690
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:53 pm
by ka7wnf
Thats too bad, the 90's look like nice rigs and going cheap on Ebay. I do have a 630-3 setup as a dualbander with an 830. Very nice set. Works great on 6 without any fiddling.
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:18 pm
by JAYMZ
I too have a 690 that I want to get on 6 meters, but I am in the same boat.
Although the tuning of it seems to be similar to the 30 series mobiles. Problem is getting the software to play nicely the way you want.
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:24 pm
by n5tbu
Be sure you do the software testmode alignment before you use a diddle stick!.
I have a saved data file with 52.525,in it .Just ask.
mod
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 4:40 pm
by willbartlett
OK, In case there hasn't been any info released elsewhere, We have 690's up on the whole 6m band. It will involve a hex edited codeplug, and some brass rod stock.
On the RF board, under the shield casting, there are 2 vco coils. If you insert about 3/16 of an inch of 1/8 in rod stock and RTV them in place, you will be able to tweak the small trimmer capacitor next to the coils and set your steering voltage so that it will reach 54mhz with ease. No retuning of the front end seems to be required.
As for the codeplug editing, I didn't do it, but I'll provide it to anyone who is interested. All frequencies are viewable in ascii using any hex editior. just don't try to edit them with the software, but you can view them. The codeplug has the entire 1mhz offset bandplan programmed, with plenty of room left. Great radios. I have 2 and they're built like tanks.
Will
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:55 pm
by n5tbu
Yeah but how are the reciever specs?Pretty unacceptable Id bet.
mod
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:54 pm
by willbartlett
The preselector is a tracking unit, it follows a 1 mhz wide slot surrounding the center frequency, and I measured loss of intelligibility at 50mhz at roughly -118dbm, and at 54 mhz it's only a db or so up. very useable. We have many of them out in mobiles and they perform VERY well.
I'll try to do a sinad measurement, but it may be a week or so before I can get set up to do it.
Will