reported Can't "back tune" the T1154

[No1sonuk]

When doing a cold and dark start at the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport on the Marianas map, I need to set a transmitter frequency of 3.825 MHz for ATC.
This is between marks on the T1154's red range dial, and I can't find the right spot.
It SHOULD be possible to use the receiver to "back tune" the transmitter.
This is done by keying the transmitter in "tune" mode and turning the T1154 dial until the receiver's tuning indicator reacts, but I can't get it to work.
Is this something that hasn't been implemented yet?

[NineLine]

Hi, can you please supply a track? Thanks.

[No1sonuk]

15 minutes ago, NineLine said:

Hi, can you please supply a track? Thanks.

Not really a track kind of thing.

Get power on the radio and follow the instructions here:
http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/archive/1257_AP2548_T1154.pdf

Go to page 43, paragraph 126 to 131 in particular.

I think in "tune" mode, the transmitter feeds a low power signal to the receiver when it is keyed.
That SHOULD then make the magic eye react when the transmitter frequency is tuned to match the receiver.

I wonder if it's a nuance of the operation that has been missed, or am I doing something wrong.

What makes it hard is the button press shouldn't trigger the comms menu when tuning, and shouldn't transmit voice at all when not in "R/T" mode.

The magic eye DOES respond to received transmissions, but apparently not the transmitter tuning signal.

In the attached track, the tuning is easy because the tower frequency is on a mark on the red dial, but in my OP, the frequency is between wide-band marks on the transmitter, but narrow on the receiver.

t1154_tuning.trk

[scoobie]

The track @No1sonuk attached shows it all.
Having played with these radios quite a lot today I think this "back tuning" is way more important than it appeared to me at the first glance. It really is.
And... yeah... the thing doesn't seem to work. Like at all.

 

-------------
Below is my understanding of the feature (I'm a radio layman) - it's irrelevant for the bug report (or maybe a missing feature report - we don't know), but maybe someone will spot a mistake in my thinking and teach me something, or at least other folks will notice that this radio set wasn't actually as hard to deal with as it seems! It's a pretty fancy bit of kit!

 

Rationale:
1. R.1155 has a beautiful, huge frequency scale and two big*ss luxury knobs - one "coarse", one "fine". Fantastic device! Tuning is very easy and the box is conveniently placed next to the navigator.
2. T.1154 is a whole different story. It's a bit far behind you, you need to reach out with your hand and these "scales" - the aluminium dials around the knobs with scantily marked graduation - they're pretty much cr*p. (If I get it right it's because of several technical reasons, but it's not important now.)
Anyway, it's really hard to tune any frequency reasonably quickly and with confidence, especially frequencies in between the graduation marks. Even more so at night if you can't or don't want to turn on this plafond above and behind your head.

 

They knew it and provided this nice solution - the "back tuning":
1. Tune the receiver only, it's easy and convenient.
2. Switch the transmitter to "TUNE".
3. Press and hold your "Morse key".
4. Grab the appropriate oscillator knob (red/blue/yellow) and turn it - but turn it like a monkey, without even looking. Instead look at the magic eye on the receiver. At some point the eye will close, indicating that the receiver is getting a signal... from this very transmitter. So the transmitter is apparently trasmitting on the same frequency, right? Congratulations - you have quickly tuned your transmitter to the same freq. as your receiver.

EASY PEASY! (lemon squeezy)

 

[No1sonuk]

39 minutes ago, scoobie said:

The track @No1sonuk attached shows it all.
Having played with these radios quite a lot today I think this "back tuning" is way more important than it appeared to me at the first glance. It really is.
And... yeah... the thing doesn't seem to work. Like at all.

 

-------------
Below is my understanding of the feature (I'm a radio layman) - it's irrelevant for the bug report (or maybe a missing feature report - we don't know), but maybe someone will spot a mistake in my thinking and teach me something, or at least other folks will notice that this radio set wasn't actually as hard to deal with as it seems! It's a pretty fancy bit of kit!

 

Rationale:
1. R.1155 has a beautiful, huge frequency scale and two big*ss luxury knobs - one "coarse", one "fine". Fantastic device! Tuning is very easy and the box is conveniently placed next to the navigator.
2. T.1154 is a whole different story. It's a bit far behind you, you need to reach out with your hand and these "scales" - the aluminium dials around the knobs with scantily marked graduation - they're pretty much cr*p. (If I get it right it's because of several technical reasons, but it's not important now.)
Anyway, it's really hard to tune any frequency reasonably quickly and with confidence, especially frequencies in between the graduation marks. Even more so at night if you can't or don't want to turn on this plafond above and behind your head.

 

They knew it and provided this nice solution - the "back tuning":
1. Tune the receiver only, it's easy and convenient.
2. Switch the transmitter to "TUNE".
3. Press and hold your "Morse key".
4. Grab the appropriate oscillator knob (red/blue/yellow) and turn it - but turn it like a monkey, without even looking. Instead look at the magic eye on the receiver. At some point the eye will close, indicating that the receiver is getting a signal... from this very transmitter. So the transmitter is apparently trasmitting on the same frequency, right? Congratulations - you have quickly tuned your transmitter to the same freq. as your receiver.

EASY PEASY! (lemon squeezy)

 

While I've never used a T1154/R1155 combination in reality, that is exactly my licenced Amateur Radio operator interpretation of how the manual says it should work.  

[NineLine]

Thanks, I will take a look.

[NineLine]

Ok, this is now reported, thanks all.