[ARC5] SEMCOR RC-115 capacitor analyzer.

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

Well, my Puerto Rican copy of the Sprague TO-5 arrived today in good 
condition.

It is VERY heavy! The cabinet is all steel, heavily painted with grey wrinkle 
paint, and the construction quality is excellent.

All components, both hardware and electronic bits, are top quality.

I will do some maintenance on it, however, as all the paper caps in it are 
Black Beauties, so I'll replace them with 630 V metal film caps, and will 
replace the line cord with a new one while I'm at it.

After examining this unit closely, and then digging out manuals for the 
Heathkit IT-11 and IT-28 (which are identical, BTW, except for paint 
scheme), it is very clear that the Heathkit units are dead-ringers for the 
Sprague TO-5, but have some additional features that the Sprague units 
don't have.

For instance, you can use external "standards" to achieve high accuracy, 
and the Heathkit units will also test inductances which none of the others will 
do.

Those of you who need a quick and accurate means of testing capacitors for 
value and leakage, and for reforming electrolytics, would find the Heathkit 
units perfectly suitable.

It is also excellent for matching resistances, capacitors, and inductors, and 
for testing transformers for turns and impedance ratios.

I have used my ancient Heathkit C-3 "Condenser Tester" to test a bunch of 
the can-caps out of my ARC-5 receivers, and although it is a bit more clumsy 
to use than the more modern testers, it certainly did a good accurate job.

Even the C-3 will test and match resistances and capacitances.

Now I have a pile of bad can-caps. I'll send some to Les, and may attempt to 
rebuild a few for myself.

Ken W7EKB