[ARC5] Intermittent roller inductor operation

[Ian Wilson]

While digesting lots of useful information on the BC-453 <grin>, I've
been busy putting a T-22 (possibly actually a T-21) back on the air. I'm
not certain which it originally was because it has had a "40m
bandspread" modification, i.e. removal of rotor and stator plates from
the variable capacitors. It covers the whole 40m band (and a little at
the outside edges).

Apart from the bandspread mod, it has an on/off switch and indicator
lamp, fairly unobtrusive. It also has a sturdy handle mounted across the
front panel, not so unobtrusive.

There was a lot of dried sandy mud in parts of the unit. Fortunately, it
was bone dry, and has actually cleaned up remarkably well.

The roller inductor action was very intermittent - actually, I could
only get output at a couple of positions. I dismantled the assembly and
carefully cleaned the roller windings, the roller wheel, and the slider.
I used Barkeeper's Friend for this - have used it with success in the
past on lightly oxidized metal parts. The results, especially the slider
rod and the roller wheel, look very nice. No surface scratches or pits.
I also dismantled and cleaned the antenna contacts since they were
oxidized.

The result is a great improvement - output across the range of the
roller inductor - but there are still patches where there is no output.

As I turn the roller, I can see the roller wheel move 'in and out',
which means that the roller inductor isn't centered. How should I fix
this?

Clearly having too much fun here.

73, ian K3IMW