[HiDARG-MEMBERS] My RigExpert AA-1000 Repair notes and bill......Makes is smokin chips......

[Max Vaughan]

The rest of the story…. (Now you know the reason for my email about Rig Experts)

 

I think I got off lucky……so how the hell did this occur…. I had to re-do every step in my mind…but think I have it.

So lessons learned….

I never have any radio’s on when checking antenna’s and I don’t analyze my radio.

All us RE owners know that right….

 

When doing 7QP I needed to make adjustment to the 40m stick at my last county line.

I have a sort run of coax going from the stick to the inside of the cab and 

into my antenna switch.

This is so I can go back and forth between the stick on the mag mount on the roof, one on the mag mount on the back 5th wheel hitch.

I had the radio off, disconnected the antenna cable from the connector for the stick.

I disconnected the cable from the switch that goes to the radio.

 

I then put my jumper on the RigExpert then I hook to the switch.

I can go back and forth between the two sticks to get them set correctly…..all done….

I un-hooked the RE but left the jumper cable connected to it. 

Normally I take it off, and put it away in its box.

But set it down next to the radio and hooked up the radio to the switch…

Made some contacts then packed it in. 

Took down my sticks, and put the VhF/UHF antenna back on and hit the road.

It was not until I got back home that I went to use the AA-1000 and no response.

Contacted the repair folks and sent it back to them on Monday, they got it yesterday….

Can you really load up 5watts into a short piece of coax sitting near a radio…..yes I think you can.

 

Fixed it and sent me the below info to tell me that I must have put at least 5watts of RF into the front end.

I attached the invoice so all could see my cost’s….. since this was not covered under warranty.

I still have a year left on mine.

Just know that if yours needs to be repaired this is close to the expected repair costs.

 

Final note of advice from “Mike”  since I did indicate that I use it to do ant maintenance on our repeater sites.

Be careful in high RF environments….prep the unit to measure what you need, hook up measure and disconnect as quickly as possible.

 

From: PNC Engineering On Behalf Of (name with held)
Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 21:05
To: Max Vaughan
Subject: RigExpert AA-1000 Repair

 

Max,

We received your antenna analyzer today.  Amazing job on the packing.  Don't be offended when the item comes back with less packing material than you sent it with.. LOL.  Generally we find that people tend to put the analyzer in the original box, and then box that up. To keep people from trying to ship the analyzer in only the thin original Manufactures Box, we tell people to 'double box it'... In any case, I digress.

The analyzer was placed on the bench under the binocular microscope and checked.  Just as we suspected, the analyzer has front end damage that looks like about 5 watts input (only an educated guess on wattage).  Below are pictures of 2 of the components (out of 9) in the detector circuit that were damaged and needed to be replaced. This is just so you can see that in fact, as I mentioned, there is ALWAYS physical damage when RF enters the antenna connector.

In the less severe area you can see this resistor has only browning or discoloration to it:



Whereas with this section you can see that the resistor has had more severe RF damage actually causing a hole to be burned through the top of the component:


Unfortunately as you have probably already guessed, this isn't a warranty issue.  So, with that information I will send you an invoice for the repair of the analyzer.  I went ahead and authorized a little credit for you so that we could keep the price very near to what I quoted you in the pre-authorized box.  If we receive your payment before 1 PM Thursday we can actually get it out the door tomorrow! I have also attached a copy of the repair invoice to this email for your review.  Please let me know if you have any questions, or need further help with the RMA.  Thanks,

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