[ARC5] BC-455 adventure

[Bill Cromwell]

On Sat, 2012-06-16 at 16:02 -0700, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:

> 
> No need: they are 3-48 binder-head screws. Originals are cad-plated brass. 

Thanks for saving me the time to search for that Ken.

> 
> I use the nuts with some of the screws (and lock-washers) to plug the holes 
> in the sides of those receivers which have been converted to disk ceramic 
> caps from the can-type jobs (flower-pots as some call them). Leaving those 
> holes empty looks trashy to me.
> 

Mine already has the pots replaced by new caps. Some of the screws for
those now hold small terminal strips.

> You can stuff the flower-pots with new disk ceramics if you want to. It ain't 
> hard.

The pots in my 'new 455 are already gone. However I have to recap my
R-23 AND my BC-453 and I might try that. I already have those documents
(I went there to make sure). They are most of the documents I referenced
in my first post - the ones I am studying more closely. I also have some
"hacking guides" to see what might have been done to some of the radios
I'll be finding.

> First of all, leaving that tube-cover off results in the entire receiver running 
> much cooler. In an aircraft at 30K feet, undoubtedly holding some of that 
> heat in is a good idea: in a heated ham shack, not so much.

Maybe I'll fabricate a cover made of screen or so called "cane metal" to
keep junk from falling in and letting heat out.




> Well, with an IF of 2830 KHz, you are not going to achieve selectivity much 
> better than stock even with sweep-alignment of the IF. As I said, those 
> receivers were purposely made with a very wide IF to deal with drifty and off-
> frequency transmitters.
> 
> > If that doesn't work well enough I'll do the Q-mult
> > approach. I read the specs. Not very CW friendly.
> 
> That may be, but I found them to work very well indeed on CW.

I often listen to CW with an SSB filter inline and sometimes with an AM
filter in line. It's less fatiguing. With "airtight" knotholes in the IF
strip I start to feel like my head is stuck in fish tank inside a
barrel. I noticed it was pretty easy to copy CW on a crowded 40 meter
band and I have done anything about a formal alignment. It's not very
much different from ignoring all but the conversation of interest in a
crowded restaurant or bar.

Thanks Ken and everybody else. I have received a number of comments on
the list and some more off list. Every single one of them offered
pointers to help and all were very encouraging.

73,

Bill  KU8H