[AMRadio] Seeking advice for 1st time restoration -- Viking II

[Bill Harris]

Jim:Summer of 53; (Right after the "Police Action" ceased)  I bought my Vik II, (kit). It came with 6146's....A tube that was recently marketed by RCA.  After a few hours of operation I managed to flatten the finals due to over driving the grids. (A common problem I found out) No problem, I thought, so back to the local radio emporium to purchase a pair of 6146's.  "Sorry Charlie, their not available and no telling when we'll get our back order filled" was their response.....Hmmm, what to do...Of course, they had 4D32's in stock so why not convert. I think the price was about double the price of two 6146's.  So with 1 new 4D32 w/socket in hand I set out to get my new Viking II back on the air as a Viking 1.5.  Worked fine and lasted a long time.  As I remember, 6146's were scarce at the retailer's for quite some time.  I think the manufactures of civilian and military gear were buying every 6146 RCA could produce.  Raytheon was still manufacturing the 4D32 as late as 1979. So 58 years ago, 4D32's were available at Yukon Radio in Anchorage. I think their cost was the major cause for the change over to the 6146.  Collins continued using 4D32's in their 32V series, until they came out with the S line, which we all know, used  6146's.
What I learned from that first experience with 6146's was: Slowly increase the grid drive while watching the plate current.  There will be a point where the plate current starts to decrease.  At that point, back off the drive a skosh.  Check the grid current and you will see that it reads  about half of what the manufacture (Johnson) called for.  As I recall, about 4 ma?  My 61's seemed to be happy at about half that.Do you know if there is a Viking reflector?  Getting the bug to restore one of my Vikings. Carry-onBillHarris-w7kxb 



0> From: knjhanlon at msn.com
> To: amradio at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:18:23 -0600
> Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Seeking advice for 1st time restoration -- Viking II
> 
> 
> Bill Harris wrote:
>  
> 
> > The Viking II came out with the newly released 6146's.....Viking I used a 4D32, which was, in my opinion, a more robust tube but a few bucks more. Unfortunately, the bean counters at Johnson won out.Later 
> 
> The Viking I was sold as a kit without tubes.  The guys who bought it during the Korean War found that the 4D32 had turned into "Unobtanium," and they usually had to substitute something else.  The most common sub was a somewhat lower powered 829B which was still easily available from WW2 surplus.  I have a Viking I with a pair of 807's beautifuly installed where the 4D32 would have been.  
>  
> I suspect that the switch to 6146's in the Viking II was motivated by their availability as well as their price.
>  
> Jim, W8KGI
>