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Old 2009.09.14, 01:07 AM   #5
Felix2010
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 987
If I remember, there was always less reception with the AD-MA010, since the AD-PCB was converted to the MA010 platform. Even though the Fets are different, the Fets don't look to be the problem. And I just re-did the antenna and it is clean and tidy... No unfriendly (component) touching going on

I am thinking it might be a crystal problem. Not a frequency problem though - I have a #3,#6,and #19 AD crystal set. It's a connection problem -> That the crystal's pins don't sit as securely inside the PCB crystal socket as a crystal does on an AM board. The AD crystal is secure to a point, but not very tight; The crystal has some play that I don't like.

I first found this crystal-play to be a problem for the Lay-Flat crystal adapters made by PN and Atomic. The crystal-adapter pins wouldn't be very secure inside the crystal socket, and I did some experimenting way back when and the AD-MA010 had better reception when the crystal was installed directly into the AD-PCB rather than when the crystal was used with a Lay-down adapter, neither the PN or ATM adapter worked well with the AD-PCB. On my AM MA010 the crystal lay-down adapters for both companies worked much better> Much more secure.

Right now my AD-PCB has the crystal socket re-soldered at a 45-degree angle, the old DIY lay-down crystal mod. I am wondering if I should try soldering thick-gauge wire to a crystal's two pins, and then taking the ends of the wires and stuffing them into the PCB's crystal socket for a tight connection. I have never tried or heard of anyone trying to solder wires directly to a crystal, and I don't know if it's a good idea since I'd like to be able to remove the solder & wire and use the crystal in my other AD-MR02 in the normal plug-in way.
Anybody got any ideas/tips/tricks on how to get a tight connection between the crystal and the PCB?
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