- 2025
- Nov
- 17
A PACO G-30 RF Signal Generator - Part 8: So we meet again
You probably remember this thing:
It wasn’t that long ago that this was wrapped up. (See the bottom of this post for that entry.)
However, a friend pointed out that the schematic didn’t match the unit. In particular, a capacitor in the audio oscillator wasn’t per the information:
C8 is a 103, aka 0.01μF capacitor, per the schematic. However, what’s in the unit:
That’s very clearly a 104, aka 0.1μF part. Note that the resistor in the image is the one that was incorrect and replaced in a previous post.
No problem, I have plenty of 0.01μF left over from various rebuilds. One goes in easily:
And,
It won’t oscillate. Okay.
The old part goes back in, and all is well. It’s oscillating again, right around the 499Hz it was the last time we looked at this unit.
So, what gives here? Well - I’ve found that many of these devices didn’t exactly follow the manufacturer’s information. Schematics were often printed before the unit was manufactured, and things changed. Problems were corrected, circuits were changed, new variants were released - all kinds of things that make what you have on the bench and what you see on paper deviate. You literally have to expect the unexpected here, or you’ll go crazy trying to figure out what happened.
I assume that the original owner probably put this part in, after discovering the same thing about the oscillator. Regardless, it’s back the way it was and bolted together again, waiting for it’s time to shine.
Previous part of this series: https://wereboar.com … rator-part-7-wrapup/