$200 "reforming" of the caps:

In a word, ripoff.

You will get the units there, then they will call and tell you all sorts of things are wrong...and then offer to just keep the rigs for "parts"...

Thievery at its worst.

Either get a variac and do the reforming yourself, or just change the PS caps...they are available and aren't horrendously pricey. They're good rigs - either way it's worth the effort.

OW! What a very detailed, useful post - and expensive, too.....<grin>

While I do NOT disagree with the previous poster that all this equipment is very useful and really handy if one really wants to be serious as far as rig design and building, i think that the list is more than a bit overkill for someone describing himself as a beginning kit builder.

Someone starting out really doesn't need a rack full of old tube test gear to be successful, especially if there is any possibility that they can find an elmer who might help them out with the really thorny problems (can you say local ham club?)

Were I starting out again, I think I'd likely go with the following:

DVM of good quality (I've alway been fold of Fluke DVMs myself) with built-in capacitor measurment, AF/low RF frequency counting and the like. This beast kind of serves as an all-arounder - it doesn't do anything really well but it does it all. Most if not all o fthese I've worked with over the years have very high input resistance and don't overly load the tested circuit - not unlike a VTVM...

A signal generator in the AF frequencies is handy as is one in the RF frequencies (though that can be breadboarded up pretty easily), and a frequency counter (even assembled as a kit) can take the place of an oscilloscope for a lot of measurement and alignment uses.

Don't get me wrong - a scope is a wonderful thing to have and I own two - but it isn't a death-or-glory essentiall when you start out.

A cheapish SWR bridge for antenna alignment wouldn't hurt but again can be shared if one can find other kindred souls in the neighborhood. I don't own a wattmeter and never have - don't do a lot of high-power stuff so never felt the need.

The VOM would be a nice addition if a used Simpson or the like wanders your way - an analog pointer can tell you a lot that a digital reading won't.

More than that, good hand tools are a prerequisite. Don't buy import junk - good nutdrivers, pliers and the like aren't all that expensive and can keep things from getting frustrating. Ditto the soldering iron - don't buy the RatShack 3.00 special - get a good Weller or the like and a stand for it. Personally I use an industrial soldring station I've had for many years and it's served me well (bought used/surplus, of course).

Add the fancy stuff as you go along - then you'll know if you want to.

One last point - mostly an example of what I'm talking about re: simplicity:

A friend had bought a Ramsey single-band receiver kit based around the NE602. Said friend had never been able to get the rig to produce more than hiss no matter how antenna'ed or tuned and had lost the documentation.

Frustrated - he heaved it at me for parts and/or repair.

I sat down at my desk one evening and hooked the silly thing up - he was right. Hiss and more hiss  but no signals. Even the hiss didn't sound right.

Rather than drag this down to the shop I decided to play with what I had at hand - which was:

Hand tools
DVM
Soldering iron and soldering tools
Cassette player and a cut-off patch cord
Random bits of wire, clips, jumper leads and the like.

The first thing I did was source documentation on the chips on the silly  thing - no big deal in today's digital age. The kit was basically a couple of demo circuits strung together - no biggie to figure out the interconnections that weren't on the manufacturer sheets.

Then it was a game of building blocks - sort the receiver into its sections and test them individually. I usually do this by taking an AF source and feeding it into the end of each stage, working my way out from the speaker/headphones. A cheap diode in line with the cassette player's cut off patch cord made an AF signal injector - and a random music tape was the signal source (I hate Barry Manilow....but all the good stuff was on CD).

So, tracing it this way led me all the way to the AF output of the NE602 tuner section. Following the sample circuit diagram I had it was evident that this was a simple varactor-tuned circuit that, if the chip was good, had little between it and functioning.

With the DVM on and the power off I check ed the values of the components in the circuit - simple continuity stuff - and looked to see if anything was grounded or the like. It all looked good, so I flipped the supply back on and checked to see that power was getting where it needed to be. Again, more-or-less all well and good.

Hmmmm...y'know, if it's more-or-less functioning (and keying up my HT near it proved the thing could receive after a fashion - can you say splatter? <grin>), the the lack of receive can be either:
a) blown chip won't tune anywhere good
b) Dead oscillator
c) Fragged varactor causing it to not tune
d) fragged tuning  circuit

A I couldn't fix and wouldn't have bothered for entertainment value. B was easy to check by seeing if varying the tuning of the oscillator (vary the slug in the tuned circuit) to see if it did anything.Varying the oscillator in this circuit is like varying the input tuning - you get it to "look" at a different spot in the spectrum....

WHOA! Houston, we have signals.....

OK, this tells us that the problem is in C or D. I didn't have a swap-out for C, so I decided to check D as an eliminator. Rather than the voltage on the tuning pot varying smoothly from 0 to supply it only dipped about a volt.

Popped out the tuning pot and lo and behold - a bad 5K pot was actually 50K across the resistive element. New pot in and the receiver worked like it was supposed to...can you say birdies? <grin>.

To put a short end on this long drivel of mine knowledge and logical thinking with simple test equipment is as good as if not better than a room full of gear and scattershot techniques. Mind you, the gear makes it a LOT easier - but the gear itself takes experience to use also.


                            73, N1TWY, ex-WA1YHY....

Read this a long time ago - a pleasant memory indeed.

With 7 watts output power and considering the gent doing the radio work was well-trained ex-military, I wonder if the xmtr wasn't likely a homebrew of some sort? Let's face it, 7W in the HF frequencies wouldn't have been more than a 1 or 2 tube unit - likely rockbound.

More the point, i wonder how they were powering the NC receiver? The manual i just looked at (thank you Web!) said it was an internally-supplied unit capable of being operated @ either 120 or 220 V AC. Wonder if they used the auxiliary socket on the back and fed it off a battery supply w/a vibrator power supply or the like?

OK - dumb question while we are on the subject of SWR bridges.

I have an ancient and venerable SWR bridge from a 30-years-ago flirtation with  CB. This thing is
supposedly good to 30 Mhz or thereabouts.

Could this be used as a VHF meter? Seems to me if I can put enough power into it to set the dial to the calibrate point, the reflective power reading should be adequate for rough tuning of antennas.

I just hate to pull my good meter from the shack for quick checks of mobile antennas and the like...

Re: Hi, Neighbor!

Neat - I'll have to fire up something of a more recent geological age and have a chat on a  morning soon!

Unfortunately, by that commute time I'm usually hard at work herding bits...<grin>

Thanks for the info - Al - N1TWY/ex-WA1YHY

Speaking of boat anchors, it occurs to me that taking my old Gooney Bird (CD issue - DAMN yellow with the CD logos on it!) out for some exercise  would be a lot of fun.

Problem is - is anone running AM anymore and in what band segment?

I'd love to get an AM roundtable going in the Boston area just to get the old hollow-state stuff back on the air...

Are you looking to use the ARC-5 or is this for show?

The real knobs for these are hen's teeth - I have exactly one and someone else will get it at the estate sale...if I don't take it with me...<grin>. However, getting something in the hole to tune the rig is not all that big of a deal.

Take a piece of plastic tubing (polyethylene, not vinyl) the OD of which will fit in the spline hole, and with an ID a bit smaller than the tuning spline. Heat the end of it in boiling water, then press it into the tuning knob hole.

Leave it there till it cools, then it should hang onto the spline and allow you to tune the receiver easily. Put a garden-variety setscrew type knob on the tubing end to dress it up a bit if you wish - I've done it both ways, and find a knob is easier to grip than the protruding end of the tubing.

Pretty it's not - but it does work.