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Thread: Something(s) followed me home - old Tempo (Uniden) 2020 station

  1. #1
    Administrator N8YX's Avatar
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    Something(s) followed me home - old Tempo (Uniden) 2020 station

    Been looking at picking up one of these things for years...high school electronics teacher had one in the late 80s and never could get it working quite right. There are usually one or two sets plus assorted spare parts at Dayton...always passed on them for whatever reason.

    Reviews of these rigs are a mixed bag. Some people say you'll always be working on them. Most reviewers are very happy with the receiver, which is one of the reasons I decided to grab the rig.

    80-10 plus 15MHz WWV and CB (RX only). I'm very tempted to swap a couple of the 10M segments out for the WARC bands, giving me WWV-80-40-20-17-15-12-11-10A-10B in that order.

    Right now the unit is waiting on a couple of parts to make it 100% electrical. Then a nice repaint of cabinets and trim rings...fabrication of a cable for the inbound 8010 remote VFO...and possibly replacing the 4-pin "Y"-configuration SMK accessory connector with a DIN-5 unit.

    Pic isn't of my lineup but is representative of the station:

    PB290213_600_x_44901_.jpg
    "Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."

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  3. #3
    Administrator N8YX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KG4CGC View Post
    Nice! Looks very Yaesuzian.
    It should - they designed the rig!

    Think of it as an intermediate offering between the FT-101B/E/F and the 101ZD/901 series. There's a PLL for the major tuning ranges, and a VCO scheme with phase detector similar to that of the 101ZD/901 line...but an analog VFO which tunes over a 100KHz range and uses a drum dial for a readout. (This was supposedly done in the interest of stability.)

    2x 6146B for PA, AM generation scheme very similar to that of a 901. No FM or 160M. No notch filter, IF Shift, IF Width controls...no built-in keyer. I think Yaesu was playing around a bit with circuit concepts and licensed the design to Uniden as a trial of those technologies which made it into later rigs.
    "Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."

  4. #4
    Orca Whisperer PA5COR's Avatar
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    I had the Sommerkamp 2020, same thing, worked fine, good quiet receiver.
    "If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop
    telling the truth about them." - Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
    “I’m not liberal/conservative, I’m anti-idiotarian.”
    At some point in the last 20 years, the left moved to the center, and the right moved into a mental institution

  5. #5
    SK Member 04/29/2020 w2amr's Avatar
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    Very cool looking rig.

  6. #6
    'Grumpy old bastid' kb2vxa's Avatar
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    When you swap crystals to get the WARC bands you may be able to save a 10M segment. The 11M CB RX only is an open circuit on the band switch so the T-R relay won't operate in that position. I forgot how CBers made it function, that is how they restored the relay connection on the band switch, but if you restore it you can swap the crystal for 12M.
    "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
    Neil deGrasse Tyson

    73 de Warren KB2VXA
    Station powered by atomic energy, operator powered by natural gas.

  7. #7
    Whacker Knot WØTKX's Avatar
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    Google this:

    CB tricks tempo 2020 11 meter conversion

    "Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
    of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman



  8. #8
    Administrator N8YX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WØTKX View Post
    Google this:

    CB tricks tempo 2020 11 meter conversion

    A) Jumper the 11M contacts on the two TX switch wafers to the nearby 10M sections (all four connected together);
    B) Stagger-tune the driver coils for peaking across the full range
    -or-
    Add in a slight amount of extra capacitance on the 11M positions, depending on which band segment you wish to convert it to.

    Wald, N4PL wrote up a WARC conversion article for these rigs - he sold me some extra parts (including RX and TX Boards) so I can rearrange the segments as needed. 11 will stay in RX-only mode, and I'll play around with everything north of 20M to get optimum Q in the various tank circuits.

    Cor's quote:

    ...good quiet receiver.
    Supposedly better than the Kenwood 820 series on the upper bands. I'll be able to do an A/B comparison as I have my TS-820S/R-820 in line at present.
    "Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."

  9. #9
    SK Member 05/26/2022 WX7P's Avatar
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    Cool radio!

    I've been down with the retro lately.

    Interested in hearing the results of your performance comparisons.
    http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q275/nx6d/ham%20radio/SANY1260.jpg

  10. #10
    'Grumpy old bastid' kb2vxa's Avatar
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    "11 will stay in RX-only mode"
    I suggested doing something useful with it, but if you want to waste your rime listening to Radio QRZ it's your rig. (;->)
    "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
    Neil deGrasse Tyson

    73 de Warren KB2VXA
    Station powered by atomic energy, operator powered by natural gas.

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