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Apologies for the delay in responding – I had jury duty today, and was (fortunately) blown out the airlock.? It seems that the moment the attorneys discover you have a technical background and might be somewhat analytical, they have no interest in keeping you.? Anyway…

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On the crystal – I replaced it (see photo of the new crystal) and all appears to be well.? The original crystal (which I opened to inspect) is a flat sheet sandwiched between two flat electrodes.? The crystal is centered on the electrodes by way of a window in the white plastic piece that’s sandwiched in the middle.? If you test the crystal out of circuit, the resonant frequency will change if you ever-so-slightly move the crystal.? And turning it over or even on its side will definitely alter things.? Put it up to your ear and shake, and it rattles.? I read somewhere that these crystals were designed that way, and in most instances the frequency variation is small enough that it has little to no effect on the intended use.? In other words, it was cheaper and did the job, so that’s the way it was. ?I’m going to run some more out-of-circuit tests to better analyze just how much variation was in that old crystal.? The new one is working fine – no need to remove it and put the original back in.

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73 – Steve, KW4H

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