10 TESTING AND ALIGNMENT 10.1 GENERAL A suggested list of basic tools and accessories to undertake testing is shown below. 4 a Digital multimeter. 50 ohm dummy load capable of dissipating at least 5 Watts. QRP wattmeter or oscilloscope. Power supply capable of 13.8V DC regulated at more than 1 Amp. Small adjustment screwdriver. An audio signal generator. ‘An RF signal generator. A frequency counter. AVEO is required for testing and operation and it is assumed during the rest of this section that the MST2 board is being used with the DDS VFO which is already configured and fully operational. Figure 13 lists typical voltages at various points around the board and can be used to verify operation. 10.2 POWER ON ‘Temporarily remove the power connector for the VFO so that the MST2 board current can be measured alone. Using a small screwdriver: © Rotate the bias trimpot VR3 fully counter-clockwise so that the gate bias voltage is zero volts. © Set carrier balance trimpot VR1 to halfway by counting turns. You should hear a slight click as you reach either end. © Rotate the AGC trimpot VR2 fully counter-clockwise, Connect a 50 Ohm dummy load to the antenna socket. Connect the power supply to the board terminals, Ifyour power supply does not include a current meter, connect a multimeter in series with the power supply positive lead and set to measure current. Turn on the power supply and note the supply current. It should be around 80mA. Ifit’s far from this turn off immediately and look for problems. The relay should be de-energized and the board in RX mode. To verify that there are no obvious problems do a quick probe around the board with a multimeter and check the DC receive voltages as shown in Figure 13. Plug in the VFO power connector. Check the power supply current. If using the DDS VFO it should rise to around 135mA. Again, anything far from this needs investigating. MST2 40M Construction Manual - Issue 1 Page 3910.3 RECEIVE Set the VFO to a frequency in the middle of the band you will be using, ‘Turn the AF gain control to halfway. You should hear some low level hiss come from the speaker indicating that the audio stages are working. Connect a frequency counter at the emitter of transistor Q2. Adjust trimmer capacitor ‘TCI until the frequency is 9.999MHz, This is the carrier (BFO) frequency and is placed on the upper skirt of the crystal filter for Lower sideband operation. Remove the dummy load and apply a moderate RF signal to the antenna connector and tune the VFO until a clear tone is heard in the speaker. Carefully adjust the slugs in coils T2 and T3 for maximum volume. As you approach maximum you will need to turn the AF gain down and probably the RF signal level as well to avoid overload. You can experiment with the position of the two slugs to obtain a specific bandwidth, but in general, peaking at the middle of the band will be satisfactory. If fitted, set up the LED S meter display as per the instructions in the LED S meter construction manual, 10.4 TRANSMIT Remove the RF signal source and reconnect the dummy load. It will be an advantage to have either a QRP power meter or oscilloscope to obtain an indication of power output. Turn the Mic gain control fully counter-clockwise. Briefly switch to TX mode by shorting the PTT contacts. Check the power supply current, ‘This is the base transmit current and should be about 220mA. Anything far from this indicates a problem and should be investigated. Operate the PTT and using a screwdriver slowly rotate the bias trimpot clockwise. The power supply current should rise gradually and smoothly. Keep increasing until the power supply current is about 400mA. The increase over the base current is mainly due to the output MOSFET starting to conduct and move into linear operation, but some will be because we have not balanced the carrier yet and there is some power output, ‘The final bias current is set in a later step. Ensure now that the current is not too high or the output MOSFET will get very hot. Adjust carrier balance controls TC2 and VR1 for minimum power output. The null is quite sharp, and there is some interaction between the controls, so you will need to go back and forwards to obtain maximum balance. With the carrier balanced rotate the bias trimpot fully counter-clockwise to turn off the MOSFET. Note the base transmit current again, Slowly rotate the bias trimpot clockwise until the power supply current is 150mA higher than the base transmit current. The output stage bias current is now set. Ifyou still notice some power output readjust the carrier balance controls for minimum. MST2 40M Construction Manual - Issue 1 Page 40‘+ Apply an audio signal generator to the Mic socket set to 1KHz at around 50mV. Operate the PTT and slowly increase the Mic gain while monitoring the power output. When some power (about 1 Watt) is indicated carefully adjust the slugs in coils T5 and 6 for maximum output. You may need to readjust the Mic gain to get a suitable power output to monitor the peak. Once the coils are peaked operate the Mic gain up and down while monitoring the power output. The power output should change smoothly up and down. and you should be able to easily achieve 5 Watts output. + Refer to the LED S meter Construction manual and verify operation, If you are not using the LED S meter, check that the RF power LED illuminates and changes intensity with varying power output ‘+ Ifyou intend to use an Electret microphone place a short across LK1. This can be a soldered link or you can install a 2 pin header and a removable shunt, Leave LK1 open. for dynamic microphones. + Plug ina microphone and check there is RF output when you speak and the relay operates when the PTT is pressed. You will now be able to monitor yourself with a receiver placed nearby and determine an appropriate Mic gain setting. 10.5 TONE GENERATOR + Rotate the Mic gain control fully counter-clockwise, Close the Tone generator switch. © Operate the PTT and check there is no RF output. + Slowly rotate the Mic gain control clockwise and note the power output increase. You should be able to go between 0 and about SW output. MST2 40M Construction Manual - Issue 1 Page 41ro aren U1 pin 8 BV Ui pind 12.8 Note 4 U2 pin8 6.8V Note t ov U3 pin8 10.8V ov U3 pind 5.25V ov U3 pin7 5.25V ov Ua pind av av. Ua pin 5 3.9V 3.9V U4 pin 4 LAV Note7 ov. U6 pin8 ov 6.8V Note t US pin8 6.8V Note? ov Qi collector Note t 8.9V BV Qi emitter Note2 3.9V 3.7V (Q2 emitter’ ov 53V Noted) 3 collector ov 5.aV (Q3 emitter ov 0.35V_ Q4 collector’ ov 5.2V (Qs emitter’ ov 0.17V (Q8 emitter’ ov 4gV Q10 emitter ov 1.5V Qi emitter ov 0.9V) Qi2gate ov AV Notes Qi3 emitter ov TSW Note 6 Notes: 1. Zener tolerance +- 5%, 2. DC measurement affected by RF. Approx. SV without crystal. 3. DC measurement affected by RF. Approx. 7V without crystal 4, OV when Tone switch closed. 5. No RF drive. 6. sWoutput 7. No receive signal Readings taken with a digital multimeter. Power supply voltage set at 13.8V DC. Figure 13 Typical circuit voltages. MST2 40M Construction Manual - Issue 1 Page 4210.6 Aupio AGC apjusTMENT ‘The audio AGC is easy to set up and the procedure outlined below has been refined after many hours of on-air listening © Set the AF gain control to about half way ‘© Inject an $9 RF signal into the antenna connector. + Slowly rotate the AGC trimpot (VR2) clockwise until you can just notice a lowering of the audio level. This sets the point where AGC starts to operate. ‘* Increase the RF signal level and check that the rate of increase of the audio level is much less than the RF input level change. LQ The AF gain control is located before the audio AGC circuit and so adjusting the AF control for signals above $9 may not have the expected outcome. This is because the AGC circuit is attempting to adjust the audio and keep it constant. For signals below ‘S89 the AF gain control works in the expected manner. Ifthe audio AGC is not required simply rotate VR2 fully counter-clockwise. 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