[WVDXA] Alpha Repair

[W8TN - Clark]

DX'ers,

It is my policy to "tell it like it is", even when it shows I'm an idiot.
BTW, my wife will confirm that if you ask her.

Last night I tried to power on the Alpha 87a to work the TO5FJ station.  It
immediately shut down within a second of my pressing the Power On switch.
This has happened before so I just hit the switch again.  I've often thought
it was a cobweb or something like that causing a sensing error in one of the
protection circuits.  In the past I have only had to re-press the Power On
switch once or twice more to get it to come on.

However, this time it did not.  I pressed it several times (waiting a few
seconds to a minute between each time) and after six attempts, the amp went
cold and would not even try to come on.  (I found out by reading the manual
"after" this happened that this is a protection feature built into the amp.)

So, today I called Alpha Power and a nice lady named Molly, WØMOM, told me I
was experiencing a "Fault 99" problem and she would email me instructions on
how to re-set the protection circuits in the amp so that I could try to
Power On again.  This re-set required that I connect my computer (laptop) to
the Alpha which is something I have done before (maybe 10 years ago.)

Well, this is where I turned into a senile idiot.  I spent ALL DAY trying to
find the proper cable to connect my laptop to the Alpha.  This included
checking the 11 serial cables, 2 gender changers and two 25-pin to 9-pin
adapters I found around the house to see if any configuration of those
components would come up with the proper combination.  Nothing seemed to be
correct.

I had one cable that had the correct genders on each end but when I checked
the pin-outs against what the Alpha 87a manual called for, it was incorrect.

I made two trips to Radio Shack (buying two gender changers the first time
and a USB to Serial interface the second), two trips to my previous QTH
where I still have some computer equipment, and one to a friend's QTH, and
called another friend to see if he had an adapter that would work.  No luck
with any of that in finding the right cable.

So, I decided to simply build my own cable.  I cut apart two cables to get
the correct connectors and patiently wired them according to the
instructions in the Alpha Manual.  I downloaded the pre-configured
Hyper-Terminal program from the Alpha web site.  I double checked the cable
I had made and then I attempted to connect the laptop to the Alpha.  No
luck.

I tried many different Baud Rates in case that was the problem but nothing I
did would let me communicate with the amp.  I feared the amp was really
badly damaged.  I even opened a new copy of Hyper-Terminal and set it up
according to the manual and that did not work either.

I took one last look at the manual (at 1:30 a.m.!!!!) and that is when I
realized I had been using the 25-pin to 25-pin cable pin-outs to check and
wire my cable instead of the 25-pin to 9-pin description.  *OH, MY!*

So, I took my cable apart and re-wired it (correctly this time) and now I
had no trouble talking to the amp.  Whew!  This is what it's like to get old
and not read well.

To add insult to injury, the one cable I had with the correct genders, was
the EXACT cable I needed all along!  I even hooked it up and it worked
perfectly.  So, this entire day was wasted because I failed to properly read
the instructions.

Anyway, now that I got the laptop talking to the amp, I did the Fault 99
reset which Molly had emailed me and the amp now powers right up.  I have
not applied any RF to it as I'm afraid that at 2:30 in the morning I may not
be thinking well enough to do it right.  But, I believe it will work just
fine.

The lesson here is to READ, READ, and READ again until you UNDERSTAND
EXACTLY what you are reading.  Don't make assumptions and skim over stuff.
Man, I sure would have liked to have spent my day on other things.

Also, had I LABELED that cable years ago, I would probably have been saved
all the aggravation in trying to find the "correct" cable.  I could have
READ the LABEL and known (maybe!) that I was making a mistake in what I was
"thinking" I was reading in the manual.

The good news is that the Alpha is back in working condition, my FO/OH1RX
160-M QSO has shown up on the online log, and all is right with the world.
Now I think I'll lay my weary body down and let this day fade into history.


Clark, W8TN
*Really Feeling Old Now*
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