[time-nuts] Austron 2100

[Chuck Harris]

Hi Claude,

As the author of the article on key bounce, I must say that the
1uf caps are not bypass, but the actual timing capacitors that
determine how long the keypad chip waits before declaring that
the key has stopped bouncing.  They are a very high quality cap,
and won't be bad.  The problem is the keypad has gotten noisy and
it takes longer to settle than it did when it was new, hence the
change in the keybounce time constant.

I don't think you will need to replace the capacitors in the
2100F, they are high quality wet tantalums.  Check them, but
you will probably not find any that are bad.

Do not mess around with the small stack of circuit cards that
is off by itself.  Those capacitors are critical!

The 2100F is very sensitive.  It is designed to work with a loop
antenna that is a transformer isolated 3 foot square loop made
from electrical conduit boxes, and aluminum tubing... copper would
do fine, as would steel.  There is one turn of 5 conductor antenna
rotor cable inside of the loop.

-Chuck Harris

Claude Houde wrote:
> Hello !
> 
> Here is a follow up on my previous thread on the Austron 2100F.
> 
> After getting the unit I found out that the power supply is dead.
> 
> I was able to start up the receiver with my lab power supply.
> 
> It seems to work, but the keyboard bounces terribly, randomly filling 
> the display with the last key pressed.
> 
> An older thread on that subject pinpoints the 1uF bypass on the display 
> keyboard as the culprit, I will change all the electrolytics and 
> tantalums and will keep you informed if I see an improvement in 
> performance afterwards
> 
> I will again need your help to finish the repair job:
> 
>    * I bought Brook Clark's manual on CD, but in all flavours of the
>      2100 the power supply is shown as a black box, without any
>      details.  Mine has an SG3524 PWM controller driving a T03
>      transistor, with a Lambda over voltage protection and a small
>      DC-AC converter for the EL back light. Is there any known
>      schematic of that beast ? I can of course reverse engineer it
>      (after all it is an important part of the fun, isn't it ?) but I
>      would rather avoid the extra work if I can.
>    * If someone is using a 2100 in the north east part of the continent
>      , like New-England, Quebec, etc., what type of antenna should I use ?
>    * On my receiver both sides of the case were damaged, on the right
>      side the handle is broken, and the left one it is bent inward, so
>      much that I'm afraid of breaking it if I try to straighten it. I
>      would be interested in buying either a junker receiver that has a
>      nice case or just the side panels.
>    * What is the general feeling about the disappearance of LORAN-C ? I
>      read some documents, seem that the US coast guard wants to drop
>      the service.
> 
> Thanks to all !
> 
> Claude
> 
> 
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