OPINIONS ON MY UNIDEN MADISON BEFORE AND AFTER ON THE O-SCOPE

[loosecannon]

pretty darn sure that's a super talk unit:

LC

 

[Sonar]

also, to answer your questions:

yes, the channel muting is standard from the manufacturer and is there for FCC certification. they did it so that you can't talk in between regular channels by setting the channel selector switch in between two detents.

so both the stock channel selector, and your new VFO will have this muting.
if you remove one part from the radio, the muting goes away and you can tune your radio much more like a ham radio, allowing you to scan through the band looking for DX contacts without having to wait each click.
let me know if you want to do this and ill tell you which part to remove.

no, you would not have to move anything that is inside the radio in order to put the VFO knob in the headphone jack position. all it would involve would be putting whatever PC board is inside that black plastic case, inside the radio, and there is plenty of room for that.

yes, i can guide you on how to replace a cap inside your amp, but i am hesitant to do so because of the DEADLY voltages that can be in there even when the amp is off.
you won't get a second chance at that cap replacement if you touch the wrong things.

LC

One problem with that LC. because of my disability I like the idea of the detents. I like the idea that it stops at every channel. A vfo such as one on a. icom or other HF transceiver would be a real bitch for me to work. The dexterity in my fingers isn't that good. It might take me quite a while to get used to if I ever am able to get used to turning that knob and being able to stop at a particular frequency without actually having to punch it into the gidget board. So as far as the way that via for works and kind of stops at every frequency / Channel is something that makes operating the Madison a bit easier for me.

 

[loosecannon]

gotcha.

I do think i might have described what i was talking about badly, so i'll correct it, if not for you, for anyone else that comes across this thread in the future.

what i meant about it acting like the VFO in a ham radio wasn't that it would turn more smoothly or get rid of the detents. the stock channel switch and the external channel control would both feel exactly as they do now.

what i am talking about is how the speaker goes quiet for a second each time you click those switches.
there is a part you can remove from this chassis that makes it so the speaker doesn't mute each time you change channels.

the reason i compared it to a VFO is that you can click around as fast or as slow as you want and you'll always know when you come across a channel that has activity on it instead of having to click through the whole band slowly.

im sure you've noticed that if you spin either of those controls too quickly, you won't hear any sound from the speaker until you stop.
this forces you to tune through the band so slowly that by the time you get to the top and start over at the bottom of your freq range, you could have missed someone calling CQ on some channel, and by the time you get to that channel again, they could be gone.

no big deal i understand if you have reasons for liking it the way it is, i just want you to be informed.
anyway i care much more about the other things we've been discussing.
LC

 

[Sonar]

Hi Sonar.

just got back to this thread.
Yes, that yellow box is what i assumed was a noise toy.
from what you just told me i think now that it is what is known as a 'super talk' module, which was a sort of swing kit that was marketed by a place called Thomas Distributing way back when. you can find the install instructions in the old "master mods" books. (you can find them here on the forum)

the thing about these modules is that they are not just a variable power control.
they contain diode that makes the radio swing to maximum wattage from any deadkey.

normally, if your mod limiter is intact with the modulation set to 100%, if you turn down your deadkey to 2 watts, the radio would swing up to about 8 watts PEP.
does yours do this?
or when you turn the deadkey down to 2 watts, does the radio still swing up to 12+ watts PEP?
please check this, as i could be wrong about which unit you have.

here is the history of your madison as i know it.

you sent it somewhere, let's call it Tech #1, to have the VFO module installed, and Tech #1 didn't know there was a broken trace on the VFO board, and thus, could not get it to work right.

so, the radio was sent to Tech #2, who was able to make the VFO work.

after that, you ran the radio for a long time, and decided that you wanted it put back to stock so you could install an assymod board in it.
so you sent it to tech #3 who's pictures are in this thread.
Tech #3 saw that the mod limiter was removed and replaced it.

so, my questions to you are:

1. who re-capped and aligned the radio?
2. was the re-cap and alignment done before or after the installation of the VFO?
3. who installed the variable power/"super talk" kit? when?
4. was there anyone's hands inside the radio in between the time you sent it to Tech #2 for the VFO problem, and when you sent it to Tech #3 to be put back to stock and replace the final?

im more just curious, and would like to know who did what.
LC

I'll try to take it question by question in order. If I don't know the answer I'll let you know.
Number one. Technician number two (our friend) told me when he installed that yellow box in order for the variable to work on both am and SSB it was a box that he built himself with one specific reason. And that reason is the one I mentioned above. Strictly to control the variable in both modes as opposed to just a single one. Which to my knowledge is usually a.m. .
Number two. Technician number three (most recent 1) discovered the missing limiter and replaced it. Set the dead key at 2 1/2 Watts max with the variable turned all the way up. With the variable turned all the way up at 2.5 Watts the max pep is just a cunt hair above 8 pep (it won't reach 9. So the answer to that question is although it is a bit over eight Watts pep it's under 9. Once again that's with the variable turned all the way up (21/2 DK.) Although (our friend) check number two recapped and aligned the Madison it was about two years later that the final went bad. I sent it back to tech number one who had the problem installing the vfo do to the bed traces.
Number three. I'm not at the qth and probably won't be until Saturday. So I don't know if turning down the variable will bring up the pep to 11 or 12 Watts. I'll have to get back to you on that as soon as I unbox it and hook it up. I still haven't done so since I receiving it back from tech number 3.
Number four. Technician number one installed the frequency counter and vfo I purchased from Ralph on eBay. The frequency counter install by tech number one went smoothly. But as you mentioned he had a problem getting the vfo to work. So I sent it to tech number two (our friend) who found the bed Trace on the vfo immediately and got it working correctly. Our friend also recapped and aligned the transceiver. Since tech number 3 the most recent one replaced the missing limiter and did what is shown in the receipt I listed I went ahead and allowed him to align it once again. He also claimed to find a couple of bad capacitors and change them out. One of them according to him was actually leaking I'd have to go back to the email but I do believe that's the information he sent in the email.
On another note. I decided to have tech number one replace the final when it went bad. He used one of those finals made in the UK. He did install it but failed to do any biasing adjustment after the final installment. He put the final in and buttoned up the cover. After our friend tech number 2 did everything he did 20 Madison shown in his third video with the variable all the way up it showed for Watts DK and 12 pep. after tech number one replaced the bad final without doing any biased adjustments before replacing the Madison cover back on the maximum output with the variable turned all the way up was only 2 Watts DK and about 10 pep. When tech number one our friend did the initial refurb with the variable turned all the way up it showed for Watts do+ 12 p e p. With the variable turned all the way up from our friends refurbish it showed 20 watts SSB with the variable turned all the way up.

As soon as I unpack it I will hook it up to a dummy load and check all readings. Once I do that I will post them. Hopefully by Sunday I'll get around to doing that. It all depends when I get back to the qth. Thanks LC. I'm totally interested in hearing what you have to think once I know what the Madison is doing now with the variable turned all the way up and then lowered down as far as pep. And what ramifications that might have. Thanks a bunch brother.

Original receipt.

 

[loosecannon]

ok im starting to get it now.

you bought the VFO/ counter from Ralph on ebay, and sent it out to have it installed.

the guy couldn't get it all working right, so you sent it to another tech who got the counter/VFO working, and you also had him re-cap, align, and add variable deadkey to the radio.

right so far?

then, after a good amount of use and time, the final blew, and you sent it to the guy who replaced the final with the UK transistor.

from the way you described it, i am pretty sure that the guy who replaced the final also clipped your AMC transistor. he probably couldn't figure out why the output was lower with the new final, so his solution was to clip the limiter hoping to see bigger numbers.

now the guy who you just sent it to found that it was gone and replaced it.

it does sound to me like that little yellow box is not a swing kit based on the numbers you are getting. it would make sense that Tech #2 would remove that part of it as he detests swing kits.

so, all in all it sounds like you should be very happy with it the way it is right now.

I do want to say i'm sorry for not being able to work out getting the radio sent here, because i know that's the only reason you had the other guy who clipped your AMC work on it.

Just know that if you ever have problems with it in the future, that i am going to get it working right for you, and i'm going to give you a hell of a deal on the work.

just so you know, you haven't missed any DX since you've been away from the radio.
it's been quiet as a mouse for weeks now.
LC