Everything seemed usual around the R BAR S. The first day of spring had arrived. The meadowlark, perched on its favorite highest branch of the huge ponderosa pine, heralded the beginning of the spring equinox in song. A pair of eager bunnies played chase. The fragrant aroma of sweet hyacinths wafted by. Harbingers of new life abounded.
But, yet another, unexpected example of new life sprung forth. Spilling out of the shop, a fussy sounding AM radio disrupted the peaceful solitude of our tree farm. That's interesting, I thought. Russ normally preferred the sound of the acorn woodpeckers chipping away at the old oaks and the ground squirrels chirping real or imaged dangers.
I'd stopped by the shop to say hi. As we chatted, Russ kept glancing at the source of the AM signal. Wonder why he keeps looking over there? I decided to take a look. OH, cool!! My radio project! It worked! I was thrilled beyond belief. I felt proud as a new parent.
Here's a brief re-cap ( ;) ) of how we (Russ) got it working.
I proved to be one of the "hosers". When I installed one of the new yellow caps, I put it in to close to one of the pins. Then, when I installed the tube, one of the pins touched it. This caused the filament to overheat and open. (Told yah I can break anything, without trying.)
Second problem involved the filter capacitors. There were only three legs--the one installed used a common ground. It needed four legs because the ground needed to go to two different places. (Common mistake of novice repairers.) One to the chassis, the other to the power supply negative. By tying the negatives together to the chassis- a loud hum resulted. Russ installed two separate filter capicators, taking the voltage from 28v to 141v, thus reducing the hum and improving the performance. (He found it surprising that it worked at 28v.)
The third major problem--among various other minor difficulties-- a 1/4 watt, 100 ohm resistor in the return leg of the power supply; this caused a voltage drop; Russ took it out.
A 380 ohm filter choke already existed in the return line, Whew!
Needless to say "my" radio would not be working without Russ' assistance. Nor, will I get a job writing technical manuals anytime soon,
I have now began the final step- the cabinet renovation. Here I am getting down to work.
I'd stopped by the shop to say hi. As we chatted, Russ kept glancing at the source of the AM signal. Wonder why he keeps looking over there? I decided to take a look. OH, cool!! My radio project! It worked! I was thrilled beyond belief. I felt proud as a new parent.
Here's a brief re-cap ( ;) ) of how we (Russ) got it working.
I proved to be one of the "hosers". When I installed one of the new yellow caps, I put it in to close to one of the pins. Then, when I installed the tube, one of the pins touched it. This caused the filament to overheat and open. (Told yah I can break anything, without trying.)
Second problem involved the filter capacitors. There were only three legs--the one installed used a common ground. It needed four legs because the ground needed to go to two different places. (Common mistake of novice repairers.) One to the chassis, the other to the power supply negative. By tying the negatives together to the chassis- a loud hum resulted. Russ installed two separate filter capicators, taking the voltage from 28v to 141v, thus reducing the hum and improving the performance. (He found it surprising that it worked at 28v.)
The third major problem--among various other minor difficulties-- a 1/4 watt, 100 ohm resistor in the return leg of the power supply; this caused a voltage drop; Russ took it out.
A 380 ohm filter choke already existed in the return line, Whew!
Needless to say "my" radio would not be working without Russ' assistance. Nor, will I get a job writing technical manuals anytime soon,
I have now began the final step- the cabinet renovation. Here I am getting down to work.
Till next time....when you find out if I can successfully complete the conversion of "my" ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.
Regards,
Sue.
phlog's blog
Regards,
Sue.
phlog's blog
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