[AMRadio] Elmac AF68 mod driver xfmr, and shameless plug

[CL in NC]

Thanks to all that have replied.  I actually found in my Elmac folder a copy of the ER mod for adding 4 resistors and 2 caps to eliminate the xfmr altogether.  Working on this for Lea, K4VWD, who wrote a nice article for ER several years ago about the company.  This particular AF68 has been passed around several local hams with nothing done to it until Lea got it and wanted to see if it would work.  It still has a couple 'Multi-Elmac' branded tubes in it and they all work just fine.

If you read about the Xchecker from QRPme.com, I got one and it is a nice unit for those into vintage with a lot of crystals.  It is wonderful for going through boxes of them to see what is what.  Just touch the crystal pins or leads of any type, and you can tell immediately if it is good, dead, or way off freq.  Something handy to carry to a hamfest if you are looking  for old crystals too.  It will check the ancient huge crystals too, and 3 pin units like in the TCS.  It does have one issue as to accuracy of readout though.  Since it is a generic tester and does not match the loads required of all crystals, you may get freq readings you think indicate a bad rock, but will be fine freq wise in a rig.  You are even advised, when grinding a crystal, to put it in the intended rig, get a reading on its freq. and then check it on the Xchecker so you know how far it is offset from where it will be used, and note that this offset has to figured in when grinding.  I noticed that different crystal types offset a similar amount, FT243's will be low in freq by the same amount, where a HC6/U may be high a bit  If you learn to expect all FT243s to be low by 1.5K you wont reject a hamfest find that you need and it reads that same 1.5K off.   When you find a FT243 type that does not meet your noticed offsets, like all your FT243 seem 1.5K low, but this one is 1.5K high, probably, but not for sure, something wrong with it.  $56 with shipping.

Charlie, W4MEC in NC