Mirage 36hp3

[Eldorado828]

Just thought I'd throw this question out there. So the new 36hp3's all have a clipped resistor in the j4 location. I'm guessing it was done from the factory but why? Has anyone else stumbled into this yet. I reached out to the palomar guys but they appear to have gone missing from the scene (not sure what ranger plans to do). Hopefully someone else might have more knowledge. By the way the radios work fine after first fixing the typical missed qc issues normally found in the rci built radios.

 

[Eldorado828]

I managed to get a friends hp2 version in today and take a couple of comparison pics

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

I wonder what would happen if you connected it together?

 

[loosecannon]

which pc board is in these radios?
LC

 

[Eldorado828]

I noticed the newer (hp3) swings really well from a low dk but only does about 40 pep compared to the 50 pep from the older hp2. There's some capacitor changes in the final section that I'll post some pics of as well and a few other changes.

 

[Eldorado828]

which pc board is in these radios?
LC

They're both the EPTDX2912Z

 

[Eldorado828]

The above pic I should have mentioned the top is the hp3 bottom is hp2

 

[Eldorado828]

C252 is now a 220uF electrolytic, c203 is now 391k from 181k, L35 is now a 7 turn from a 4 turn. What I mean by now is on the newer hp3.

 

[Eldorado828]

I'm trying to do this in different parts so I don't get everything jumbled up haha. In these shots you'll see they've added a pot in the VR5 location as well

 

[Eldorado828]

I wonder what would happen if you connected it together?

I didn't make it that far this afternoon as I spent more time examining and taking pictures of the specimens.

 

[loosecannon]

that J4 is for the tone control.
one version probably has it, and one doesn't.

haven't looked at the other parts you mentioned but i can tell you that the difference between the 4 turn coil and the 7 turn coil is the difference between a dual final radio and a single final radio as far as i remember.

back when i was doing a lot of DX959 dual final experiments, one of the first things i saw was that you needed to change the 7 turn coil into a 4 turn.
LC

 

[Eldorado828]

Now look at the added components in the circled area on the hp3

 

[Eldorado828]

that J4 is for the tone control.
one version probably has it, and one doesn't.

haven't looked at the other parts you mentioned but i can tell you that the difference between the 4 turn coil and the 7 turn coil is the difference between a dual final radio and a single final radio as far as i remember.

back when i was doing a lot of DX959 dual final experiments, one of the first things i saw was that you needed to change the 7 turn coil into a 4 turn.
LC

I also recall the coil change with the dual final mods. I don't understand why they would do that here though right?

 

[Eldorado828]

that J4 is for the tone control.
one version probably has it, and one doesn't.

haven't looked at the other parts you mentioned but i can tell you that the difference between the 4 turn coil and the 7 turn coil is the difference between a dual final radio and a single final radio as far as i remember.

back when i was doing a lot of DX959 dual final experiments, one of the first things i saw was that you needed to change the 7 turn coil into a 4 turn.
LC

Both radios have the same functions on the front panel and either of them have a tone control. Some of these changes aren't making sense to me so far

 

[Eldorado828]

Next up not that it really makes much difference is the echo pcb. It's now a typical RCI mounted to the chassis pcb instead of the before potentiometer mounted pcb.