Your Elmer May Have the Best Plan!

What do you do when your Elmer hands you a box full of "old" equipment that is not in working order? YOU FIX IT! Now why would ANYONE want to fix "old stuff"? Well, the first reason would be KNOWLEDGE! The second would be to show that you are interested in more than the local repeaters and you want to better yourself in the amateur radio hobby/service!

My Elmer recently handed me a box of items, some of it worked and some of it did not. ALL of the items that needed to be worked on were pointed out as they went into the box. For example, one of the three HTs that went into the box was labeled as "bad receive", the other was marked "Does not transmit". What do you do when your mentor looks at you and says, "When you figure out why it has bad receive let me know"? How do you go about finding the problems? You OPEN it UP and LOOK at it!

Two of the three HTs that were in that box are now working. Would they have been repaired if I had gotten them at a hamfest? Probably not! I would have put them into the junk drawer and forgotten them until I needed something from them, perhaps a crystal, or a speaker. These items are working now because they were given to me with the belief that I want to know more about how I can talk around the world or across town, and how RF works!

Prior to getting into the amateur radio hobby/service I had not had any experience with electronics. After I got into this I decided that since I did not know electronics, but I did know math and engineering, I would concentrate on antennas…A little math and some measurements will get you through on antennas, or so I thought! You do need to know a bit more than that, but I digress….

I was handed a box of "stuff", each item that went into the box had some history to it, I was told that these items were being given to me because I was trusted to work on them, and learn from them, and would not place them on a table at the next hamfest. The man I call Elmer, whom I will leave nameless and call-less until told otherwise, entrusted me with his "treasures", things he had collected over the years. It makes no difference where they came from, or why they are broken, they are his. His to do with as he pleases! He decided to pass them along to me, he trusted me with his "stuff". He decided to pass them along, and to further facilitate the knowledge base of the service we call amateur radio by doing so.

The first things I took out of the box were two Regency receivers. Both of them were in good working order, as I was told they were, they received the frequencies that were marked on them and they are now sitting on the bench in the shack "listening" for the next burst of RF. Next I took the HTs from their resting place in the bottom of the cardboard box. I wished they could speak to me, I am sure they would have stories to tell. But, they did not say anything to me at that time, I have to "resurrect them" so to speak, make them have the capability to "talk" once again.

The first one I pulled out was large! This HT weighed almost as much as my mobile VHF/UHF rig does, but it does not work, it has "issues". I looked it over and wondered what to do next, should I try to put power into the external power jack? What if I wire the jack wrong? Is it center pin positive or negative? I told myself I had a 50/50 chance of being correct, and I went with center pin positive, most everything else I own is. I was right, the next thing I heard was static, always a good sign! I pressed the PTT button and my frequency counter told me it was transmitting on 151.250 MHz, and then I heard a voice! SUCCESS!!!

I did not smoke the first project. Granted it is not within the amateur bands but I was able to find the place to power up, add an antenna and learn. While pondering my next project I heard a voice on the HT I had just powered up, it was not anything of importance, someone was calling in that a door was secure, but it made my night! The "old and heavy" HT was working once again!

The next project was a bit more of a challenge, the battery compartment of the Yaesu FT-202R was COMPLETLEY eroded away from corrosion. What should I do now I asked myself, I decided that I needed to find where the power was fed into the radio from and add power to it! How did I do this? The wires were eaten away. I looked on the Internet and found the schematic to this particular radio. I looked it over, decoded where to place my alligator clips, I lowered the voltage on my power supply to 8vdc, and turned it on. It lit up! The schematic stated that it was rated for up to 12vdc and I moved my supply to 10.5vdc and called a friend of mine on 146.52. Miles, W5RMH, replied that I was weak but he could hear me. I could not say the same for him at all. This radio had been marked as bad receive, and it was true! What now? Open it up and see WHY it has a bad receive is all I could come up with. I got lucky, the speaker was torn ¾ of the way around, and I replaced the speaker with one I had in the junk drawer and WOW, what a difference! I carried on a QSO with W5RMH for a few minutes and shut it down so I could make the solder joints permanent.

Since I have gained these items in the box I have PROVEN to myself that I CAN sort of read a schematic, I can use a soldering iron without damage, and I can make modifications without "breaking" anything. The worst thing I could do to these pieces of amateur radio equipment was to fix them, THEY WERE ALREADY BROKEN!

Why am I writing this, some will ask… What I have accomplished is not a great feat to some in the amateur radio world at all. But, it was a MAJOR accomplishment to me! I proved to myself that I could diagnose a problem, granted small ones, and I could fix them! -- To me that is one of the many things that this is all about, learning and experimentation. I did not invent a new mode, nor did I accomplish something that had not been done before, but I did gain knowledge and confidence, and an interest in the inner-works of the devices that we take for granted. To me that is a great accomplishment!

I am not a repairman for amateur radio equipment, I have NOT fully gained the knowledge to read a schematic, but I have learned that if you apply yourself, and you want to learn, you CAN do so, if you TRY!

I call to ALL amateurs that are new to the airwaves, find on Old Timer to mentor you, get your hands on a radio device that does not work and diagnose it, and the FIX it! The feeling you get from talking on a piece of equipment that did not work minutes ago, and is now providing you with a communication medium, cannot be described! The knowledge you gain from such an experience will be PRICELESS!

I have MANY more challenges in the box that was provided to me! I will tackle them one at a time…You never know, one of these days you may make contact with K5USS and hear that I am working you off of a rig that was given to me broken, and forgotten, but is now on the air once again!

Elmer, you know who you are, thank you very much!

Vy vy 73,
Charlie
K5USS

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