Ramsey Electronics HR30 Instruction Manual - page 18
HR30
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18
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ADDING AN LED POWER ON INDICATOR
For many people, a pilot lamp to indicate “power on” is more than a nice
touch. They expect it and depend on it , reminding us that “real radios glow in
the dark!”
Adding a simple LED power-on indicator to your Ramsey HR30 is easy. All
you need is the LED itself and a small 1K or 2.2K resistor. Study the PC
traces between the positive battery supply wire and the on-off switch. The
unused connectors on top of your switch are an ideal point to get the + DC
voltage needed for the anode (longer lead) of the LED. Plan where and how
you wish to install the LED in your enclosure. Locating the LED immediately
above the on-off switch is ideal. The simplest way to make a neat installation
is to drill a hole just sightly smaller than the diameter of the LED. Then,
enlarge the hole a little bit at a time, just enough to let the LED be pressed in
and held firmly. The resistor may be connected to either the anode or cathode
side of the LED, but the anode must be connect to the + DC with the cathode
connected to the nearest common ground.
If you are wondering why we did not include these pennies worth of parts with
your kit , you can believe any of the following reasons: (1)We wanted to
stretch your battery budget and the current draw on the LED is about 6ma.
How long will your battery last if you leave you receiver on for a few days, just
like we leave our computers and Ham gear on all the time? (2) We thought
you’d have more fun planning and installing your own lamp that glows in the
dark! (3) We could not decide which color you would like best.
TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS:
PROBLEM: ALL signals are chirpy and unstable.
SOLUTION: Sorry to have to say it , but this condition is only caused by a
weak battery! Use a fresh alkaline cell. Any strong signal
forces the audio circuit to rob voltage from the oscillator, which
causes the instability.
PROBLEM: Occasionally good but erratic operation.
SOLUTION: Check very carefully for a poor solder connection.
PROBLEM: Signals have an unpleasant hissing pitch.
SOLUTION: Try a different set of headphones, different speaker or external
audio amplifier. Some cheap headphones designed for casual
music listening have an undesirable filtering effect on CW
signals.