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  • Is the Foundation Licence scheme an abject failure?

    From gareth evans@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 12 13:28:18 2020
    I have been in contact with ICOM UK (and not the dealer)
    about the potential problem of the clock backup battery
    having failed in my 7300 as the rig has remained sealed
    and unopened in the postal packaging in which it
    came for the past 3, nearly 4, years, and been reassured
    that as the charging current is through a resistor of some
    tens of kiloohms, no damage to the rig will result if the
    battery is now duff.

    In passing, the guy related as to how some purchasers of the
    7300 had tried to power it up by direct connection to the
    230v mains supply, and not through a 12V PSU.

    That, taken with the recent revelation that some Foundation
    Licensees do not even know of the 50Hz mains frequency, are
    both gems indications that the Foundation Licence scheme
    is an abject failure because amateur / ham radio is essentially
    a technical pursuit with operating privileges on the side?

    73 de Gareth G4SDW (ne G8DXY) GQRP #3339

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  • From Steve@21:1/5 to gareth evans on Tue Oct 13 13:12:44 2020
    Sadly, not a new phenomenon. Back in the 80s Microwave Modules amplifiers
    used to be sent back for repair with mains plugs attached to the 12V
    wires.

    Steve G8GSQ

    On Mon, 12 Oct 2020 13:28:18 +0100, gareth evans wrote:

    In passing, the guy related as to how some purchasers of the 7300 had
    tried to power it up by direct connection to the 230v mains supply, and
    not through a 12V PSU.

    That, taken with the recent revelation that some Foundation Licensees do
    not even know of the 50Hz mains frequency, are both gems indications
    that the Foundation Licence scheme is an abject failure because amateur
    / ham radio is essentially a technical pursuit with operating privileges
    on the side?

    73 de Gareth G4SDW (ne G8DXY) GQRP #3339

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Brian Howie@21:1/5 to gareth evans on Tue Oct 13 15:21:39 2020
    On 12/10/2020 13:28, gareth evans wrote:
    I have been in contact with ICOM UK (and not the dealer)
    about the potential problem of the clock backup battery
    having failed in my 7300 as the rig has remained sealed
    and unopened in the postal packaging in which it
    came for the past 3, nearly 4, years, and been reassured
    that as the charging current is through a resistor of some
    tens of kiloohms, no damage to the rig will result if the
    battery is now duff.

    In passing, the guy related as to how some purchasers of the
    7300 had tried to power it up by direct connection to the
    230v mains supply, and not through a 12V PSU.

    That, taken with the recent revelation that some Foundation
    Licensees do not even know of the 50Hz mains frequency, are
    both gems indications that the Foundation Licence scheme
    is an abject failure because amateur / ham radio is essentially
    a technical pursuit with operating privileges on the side?

    73 de Gareth G4SDW (ne G8DXY)  GQRP #3339

    The Pye A200 brick amplifier uses heavy duty mains cable for power brown
    blue yellow/green striped. It runs off 13.8V. I wonder how many have
    plugged those into the mains.

    http://www.g1ogy.com/projects/pye-a200/PA200-6a.gif

    Brian

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