A Guide for Troubleshooting the 1Watter Transceiver kit.

I have been troubleshooting electronic equipment for over 50 years.
The following is a troubleshooting guide based on my experiences - Diz, W8DIZ


Simple troubleshooting - following instructions from another person or document.
General troubleshooting - what this document is all about.
We will use the half way or divide and conquer method of troubleshooting.


Here are my rules for troubleshooting electronic equipment:

1. Verify that there is something truly wrong with
the equipment and not with the radio operator.
Do not try to fix something that aint broke.

2. Make sure that the problem is not caused by external sources like
power supply voltages, control settings and interconnections.

3. Check the PCB for solder shorts and bridges.

4. Check the PCB for bad solder joints, especially magnet wire that
needs to have insulation stripped for proper soldering.

5. If your test equipment / setup tells you that you have a problem,
verify your setup and test equipment first before you try and fix something
that aint broke.

6. If you are certain that your radio in not operating the way it should,
use the half way or divide and conquer method.


Troubleshooting Prerequisites:
You should be able to read and understand
the 1Watter schematic and block diagram in the Service manual.
You should verify that you built your 1Watter
with MODS suggested in the Addendum.
You should own a DVM or other volt/ohm/amp measuring device.
An Oscilloscope would be nice but not required if you
have a signal generating device such as another transceiver.


The half way or divide and conquer Troubleshooting Method

Example #1: 1W20 S/N 48
Problem: Receiver seems to be dead.
Equipment Avail: DVM, Sig Gen, RF Meter, no scope.
to be continued...