Hi, I rescued a sad, but restorable, HA-460. It came with a mic and a W7FG Manual. My problems is the missing power cord(s).
I KNOW, sounds simple, but:
The radio uses an 11 pin power connector and used different cords for AC or DC. My Manual (being a copy) has some notes on the schematic page concerning 'jumpers' for the cords. I've got B+ but no heater voltage. The T/R relay works (100VDC from the B+).
The 'notes' were cut off by the copier, so I need more info. GOSH, I wish they would have shown a wiring diagram for the cords!
Looking closely at the 'notes', I can see:

"For AC, use pins #1 and #3. Jumpers #5 to #4"
Below this, it appears to be be two more jumpers listed, but like I said, the copier cut them off.

"For DC use (blank) pin for + and (blank for -."
Below this, it states "Jumpers #8 to #9."

I am proceding carefully because this radio uses a 'universal' power supply. I am NOT in so big a hurry that I want to start putting jumpers everywhere and letting the smoke out of these old parts.. ha ha

By the way, The most fun I ever had in Ham Radio was with a brand new one of these back in the early 1970s, on top of mountains in Mass and NH. I used one of Henry's (W1NEV), 'Hilltopper' 3 element beams. What a blast! AM was THE mode then and on a Sat or Sum AM, I could make 75+ contacts.

So, if anyone has one of these old girls, could you PLEASE pull back the shell of your power cord and tell what jumpers you have and where?? PLEASE???

tia
ron
N4UE

Thank you for all the nice replys. I DID consider LMR, but there was some concern in my research about the connectors. The 9913F7 is good stuff.
I have a machine shop here and make my own adaptors  from 6061-T6 billet, to transition from the CATV stuff to the coax. (MY adapter version #3) ha ha

I have tried matching the 6M7JHV 'on the ground' at the last 3 QTHs it was installed. I could NEVER get the SWR to where it should be. Yes, I tried 'pointing it up', 'getting it as high as I could', etc. I even replaced the coax balun this time, since measurements indicated it had deteriorated, and shifted frequency. Same result. Yes Steve, I used the waterproof 'F' connectors. And yes, I KNOW that the Dish companies use them, but I still say, "give me an "N" connector any time". I would rather put together 10 'N's versus 1 PL-259!

Yes Steve, I have had LOTS of preamp failures, back in Kentucky. Now that I am close to the USA lightning capital, I have prepared for that. Plus, I'm getting good at fixin' them!

If anyone needs the preventative measures, contact me directly. Oh, I also have spare preamps for each frequency and my installation requires minimal messing around to swap them out...... Plug and play, if you will.
Believe it or not, at the 100' level, there are still a couple of taller trees (in one direction) that slightly block my view to the horizion. We got some tall a$$ trees here!

I'll be on 6M Scatter tomorrow AM (if the thunderstorms will allow it!!) ha ha

thanks!

ron
N4UE EM80pa
ex N4KCM

Hi. I FINALLY got both of the 95' towers up. Last weekend (missing the VHF contest by a week, natch), I connected the antennas and feedlines on tower #1.

This is all 'for what it's worth', so if you are not interested, please don't flame me!

Tower #1: 6 meters
Modified M2 6M7JHV at 100'. I used new 9913F7 to go from the antenna's N connector to just below the rotor. Here, a N male/female junction was made using a homemade adaptor to Commscope 7/8" CATV hardline.
Why the CATV stuff? 'Cause I have thousands of feet of it, brand new, still on the spools. It has low loss and will not asorb water. It ia also easy to work with, and light....
Anyway, at the bottom, I drilled holes in the house and brought the hardline into the shack. At this end, I also used my connector and an N female. From there to the radios, I use coax (to be discussed in a minute).

Same tower: 2 Meters
Carefully rebuilt KLM 16 LBX at 115'. (one QTH had a pair of these stacked).
Again, new 9913F7 to just below the rotor. There I have a THP mast mounted Preamp. The THP mounts directly to another run of the CATV stuss via a 'double male N.
Same jumper scenario in the shack.

Soooo, today I did this simple test:
(first of all, I am NOT a worshiper of 1:1 SWR. I'll leave that to the CBers. ha ha)
I took 2 pieces of coax , random length, already made up, but long enough to go from the CATV bulkhead to the main operating table. One piece was a section of older 9913 and the other was RG-11, both Belden.

First I looked at the 6 Meter SWR with my MFJ 259B.....

Using the 9913, the lowest SWR on the JHV was 1.4:1 at 49.7 MHz.
OK, I have had that reading at one of the last QTHs..
So, I looked at the SWR at 50.125. It was 2.2:1.
Next, I put the RG-11 in place (you know, 50 Ohm radio to 75 Ohm feedline to 50 Ohm antenna, you get the picture.....)
Lowest SWR freq changed slightly to 49.82, but still 1.4:1. Next, I measured the SWR at 50.125...2.2:1.

On 2 Meters, the results were more dramatic:

RG-11 Jumper: Lowest SWR (2 nodes) 142.5 / 146 MHz = 1.1:1.
SWR at 144.200 4.3:1 ouch!
9913 jumper: Lowest SWR (2 nodes) 141.1 / 148.7 MHz =
1.5:1.
SWR at 144.200 2.1:1.

Believe me I KNOW I could prune the jumpers to get a 1.1:1, but it ain't worth it.

On 6, my TR-6 will load into a wet noodle and the auto tuner in my 756 PRO instantly knocks the SWR to 1:1.

On 2M, my SS amp should be quite happy with the 2.1:1 SWR......

I just wanted to share these results with you fine folks.

At one time, I thought about using sections of transmission line as imp transformers, but I figgered ALL those connections are just an invitation to losses and moisture ingress. After all, I am in the "Sunshine State" ha ha

I do not believe that an amateur on either end could 'detect' the difference of a 3:1 or 1:1 SWR.

thanks fer the bandwidth!

ron
N4UE
S

Hi. I FINALLY got both of the 95' towers up. Last weekend (missing the VHF contest by a week, natch), I connected the antennas and feedlines on tower #1.

This is all 'for what it's worth', so if you are not interested, please don't flame me!

Tower #1: 6 meters
Modified M2 6M7JHV at 100'. I used new 9913F7 to go from the antenna's N connector to just below the rotor. Here, a N male/female junction was made using a homemade adaptor to Commscope 7/8" CATV hardline.
Why the CATV stuff? 'Cause I have thousands of feet of it, brand new, still on the spools. It has low loss and will not asorb water. It ia also easy to work with, and light....
Anyway, at the bottom, I drilled holes in the house and brought the hardline into the shack. At this end, I also used my connector and an N female. From there to the radios, I use coax (to be discussed in a minute).

Same tower: 2 Meters
Carefully rebuilt KLM 16 LBX at 115'. (one QTH had a pair of these stacked).
Again, new 9913F7 to just below the rotor. There I have a THP mast mounted Preamp. The THP mounts directly to another run of the CATV stuss via a 'double male N.
Same jumper scenario in the shack.

Soooo, today I did this simple test:
(first of all, I am NOT a worshiper of 1:1 SWR. I'll leave that to the CBers. ha ha)
I took 2 pieces of coax , random length, already made up, but long enough to go from the CATV bulkhead to the main operating table. One piece was a section of older 9913 and the other was RG-11, both Belden.

First I looked at the 6 Meter SWR with my MFJ 259B.....

Using the 9913, the lowest SWR on the JHV was 1.4:1 at 49.7 MHz.
OK, I have had that reading at one of the last QTHs..
So, I looked at the SWR at 50.125. It was 2.2:1.
Next, I put the RG-11 in place (you know, 50 Ohm radio to 75 Ohm feedline to 50 Ohm antenna, you get the picture.....)
Lowest SWR freq changed slightly to 49.82, but still 1.4:1. Next, I measured the SWR at 50.125...2.2:1.

On 2 Meters, the results were more dramatic:

RG-11 Jumper: Lowest SWR (2 nodes) 142.5 / 146 MHz = 1.1:1.
SWR at 144.200 4.3:1 ouch!
9913 jumper: Lowest SWR (2 nodes) 141.1 / 148.7 MHz =
1.5:1.
SWR at 144.200 2.1:1.

Believe me I KNOW I could prune the jumpers to get a 1.1:1, but it ain't worth it.

On 6, my TR-6 will load into a wet noodle and the auto tuner in my 756 PRO instantly knocks the SWR to 1:1.

On 2M, my SS amp should be quite happy with the 2.1:1 SWR......

I just wanted to share these results with you fine folks.

At one time, I thought about using sections of transmission line as imp transformers, but I figgered ALL those connections are just an invitation to losses and moisture ingress. After all, I am in the "Sunshine State" ha ha

I do not believe that an amateur on either end could 'detect' the difference of a 3:1 or 1:1 SWR.

thanks fer the bandwidth!

ron
N4UE
S

Get the RFI book sold by the ARRL. It will save you a LOT of time finding your 'problem'. I believe the book # is 9892. I see they also have a book on AC Power interference # 1103. I don't have that one, but I do have the RFI book.

This subject is NO fun!! I have been fighting these kind of problems since BEFORE these books came along. I had to learn my leasons the 'old school' way.
Your problem may be as simple as a rusty bolt going through the pole to support cross-arms. No, the metal parts do NOT have to be connected to anything. As long as they are loose and in the electric field, they can arc. Couple of turns with a wrench and the problem goes away.

Been there, done that!!!

I am VERY fornuate since Florida Power and Light (FPL) takes this stuff seriously. The other day they were driving on a road a couple of miles from my QTH with a thermal camera looking for hot spots on the wires.
Sure, they are covering themselves 'cause hurricane season is coming. Still, they managed to fix all my noise issues here. However, I was able to help THEM by telling them which pole was causing me problems. It took a while, but I'm S-0 here from 160M through 70 CM.....

ron
N4UE

Hi, I know you are an experienced ham, but is your PS up to snuf? SSB output is peak-to-peak, and CW is on-off. But FM is 100% duty cycle.
Don't mean to insult your intelligence. If still in  
doubt, send a quick e-mail to Malcolm at MTS.

gud luk
ron
N4UE

Back at a QTH in Kentucky, I had a couple of 80' towers. I used the largest size gal steel water pipe that would fit through the top section. I could barely get them up the tower.
I came home from a business trip only to see BOTH masts bent over at a 45 degree angle.

Tower #1 had a pair of KLM 30 LBXs stacked over a hb 7 EL 6 Meter yagi.

Tower #2 had a pair of KLM 16 LBXs spaced at 12.5 feet.

I bought a pair of 24' aluminum masts, 1.5" OD X .250" wall, 6061-T6. Not the biggest, but they have withstood hurricanes, micro-bursts, you name it.
They move around a little, but they do NOT bend!
Shipping (even from Ohio) was $ because they had to come in an 18 wheeler! However, the best money I have ever spent.

They will soon be at 110' here in Florida.

If I were to use steel, it would be nothing but chrome-moly........

ron
N4UE

Jim, (an the group), I don't have a PRO III, but I do have the original PRO I hand carried back from Tokyo, just after they were announced.

I live in a VERY small town, here in North Florida. I am the last person on my power distribution AC line. However, I have fought powerline noise since 2003 when I moved in. At first, just a random long wire would produce S-7+ on my old Collins 75A-4.

As I got more antennas in the air, (and unpacked more radios) it became VERY obvious, I had some serious (!!) powerline noise.

I made a couple of Kent Britton's 'cheap yagis', and started walking the neighborhood with a little Icom R10 receiver. The 9 element 435 MHz yagi was VERY sharp and identified several offending poles.
An e-mail to Florida Power and Light got an immediate response. They sent out a really nice guy, an RFI 'troubleshooter' and he had some pretty nice gear. He confirmed my findings, and put in a work order, to tighten connectors and replace lightning arresters.
To make a long story short, it took mutiple tries, BUT, now it's dead quiet here.

Here's a perfect scenario......
Antenna #1..."fan" antenna for 20M through 10M.

I turn on the PRO and listen to 20M. Sounds fine, no preamp, very low background noise
As I go higher in frequency, I see the noise peak on some bands. 17M seemed to be rather noisy, or maybe the antenna works better there. Turning on the preamps would produce a series of noise spikes, like a comb with the teeth facing up. It would usually get worse the higher in frequency you went. 40M and 80M? DEAD quiet, using the fan (not efficient, but I also have several loooong wires, everything goes through a tuner).

Antenna #2...a simple 6 m dipole at the same height as the fan, 50' or so, They are connected end to end, so they face the same direction. Fed with seperate runs of RG6Q.

If there is 'noise' nearby, you will hear it on the dipole! Just yesterday, I was listening on 6 M as the band was trying to open. Preamp 2 on, noise level just perceptable when the antenna is connected.
Heck, I can see the horizontal oscillators of several nearby TVs down around 50.113... No matter where I have lived, I always hear these artifacts.

These findings are not just with the PRO. I have a bunch of 6 M radios including a mint Drake TR-6, about 10 6 M converters and a huge collection of receivers.
I have yet to find any combination of the above equipment that can do better than the PRO for weak signal / scatter.
Maybe 'cause it's the 'European' model? Maybe 'cause I hand carried it? ha ha? DUNNO, IT JUST WORKS.


May I offer a suggestion? The ARRL has a fantastic book dealing with RFI / Power Line Noise.
A lot of the things in the book were not published years ago when I first became a target of this dreaded noise.

You will leark a LOT about 'loose hardware'!!!! ha ha

73

ron
N4UE

Graham, I didn't see many references to a frequency counter. If you have an decent, older signal generator, like an HP 606 serties, I consider using a counter on the output, a 'must' for accurate alignments. If your DVM has one built in, FB. However, there are LOTS of 'good/cheap' ones on good old ePay, er, eBay.
'WIK doesn't like the 'e' place, but that's because he lives in an area where electronic goodies abound.
If you are like me and live in the country, ya have NO choice....

ron
N4UE

OK, before you flame me, I have a question from this 'non-expert' balun designer....
I am getting ready to put my Mosley TA-33 tri-bander back in the air at 80 ' or so.
Last time it was up for a very short period of time, (since my ex-neighbors sued me for having it), it worked ok.

I have gone through it (again). All connections were cleaned and deoxit applied to ALL connections.
My question is this:
I have 2 'choke' baluns to chose from.

#1 is a coil based on a piece of 5" dia PVC. Because it's smooth, the windings (of RG-8) end up being 1/2" center to center from each other, when placed against each other.

#2 is a coil based on a piece of 7" dia 'drain pipe'. Because this pipe is corregated, the windings end up being spaced 7/8" center to center.

The number of turns is tbd. However, I DO understand that 'scramble' winding the coax is not the best solution.

I can add or subtract windings, that's NO problem. This tri-bander will be fed with CATV hardline. The Driven Element will NOT use the Mosley ground strap, that's the reason for the choke.

The reason I want the best balun 'first time' is that I suffer from arthritus, and this will probably be my last HF beam. ha ha

If it's a wash, I'll use the 5" PVC since its a lot smaller.

thanks in advance!!!

ron
N4UE

Well, I e-mailed the USA location. No reply. I called them today. Never saw my e-mail.
In ANY case, they have no schematics or anything else for these "antique" products. Gee, almost as sarcastic as Ten-Tec was, when I asked them a question.
Anyway, the info will have to come from Japan, "IF they still have info this old"....!

Thanks anyway.

ron
N4UE

Hi. I have both the HRA-2 (2 Meter) and HRA-7 (70 cm) models of these preamps. I have a small problem with the 2M version.

Out of the box (10+ years since I had it in the air), it was dead. I found a bad switching transistor and now when I feed it 12 VDC, it switches 'in' and the GAasFET works well. However, when I apply 25W, it won't drop 'out'. I have been unable to find the manuals. The only schematic I have found on-line, was so small and fuzzy, it's totally unusable. This was a HRA-7 schematic.

Does anyone have a schematic for the HRA-2? Please?

thanks!
ron
4UE

Dear W9JAB, I loaded that link and it still does NOT help. Yes, it comes back with a 'million' hits, but most are about BMW Model 528s.
I have tried every combination of words, "+" signs, numbers, etc.
I DID find info that Exact was a division of Tek. I also found an old phone # which I will try tomorrow.

I know I'm an dumb 'ole fart, but I have reached a dead end....

thanks!!!

ron
N4UE

Hi, I asked this in the 'Misc' Forum and got no replies.
I am needing a Manual for an Exact Electronics Inc. Model 528 Function / Sweep Generator. I am NOT looking for a free one! I will pay good $ for one or a reproduction.
Also, any info on the company (appears defunct) would be appreciated. I have 'Googled 'till I nearly fell asleep', and found ZIP!!!

TNX
ron
n4ue

Hi,
#1. I have been searching the WWW for a Manual for a recently acquired Exact Electronics Inc. Model 528 Sweep / Function generator. Big ZIPPO. I'm not looking to bum one. I am willing to pay good money for the Manual, but it appears Exact no longer exists.
I have searched EVERY Manual site I could find, and I have come close, but NO Model 528....
Any suggestions??

#2. I have a Tek Model 7623A 'scope that's driving me nuts! One day, I turned it on and heard a very low 'click', like a fuse blowing. I have NO trace or even a 'power' light.
I have been working on this thing for ...TOO...long.
I have a fan, but it's pretty weak. I have found:

A blown fuse.
A blown resistor on the P/S.
One of the power-on micro-switches was broken 'Normally Closed' instead of "Normally Open".

I have a Manual by Tek called 'Troubleshootig your Oscilloscope". This was pretty useless, it just pointed me to the P/S. I also have the Op / Service Manual. The voltages look OK. Yes, I removed the plug-ins and same thing.

I have asked for help on the "Test Equipment Digest" on QRZ, and NO replies.
I have had this scope for over 20 years and I REALLY hate to scrap it......

thanks!

ron
N4UE