[Argonaut_USERS_Group] Argonaut 509 # 4540 lives!

[Michael Babineau]

I finally got around to pulling my 509 out of its box in the basement
to have a closer look at it. I don't think that this rig has been on the
air since about 1990.

The PTO was frozen solid and I knew this because I checked it a few 
months ago.
I have been considering my options, one of which was rebuilding the PTO.

I used an idea from a posting a while back to the Ten Tec reflector made
by K5KVH, which is to flush the PTO bearings with a bit of Tri-Flow 
(tm).
Tri-Flow(tm), in case you are not familiar with it, is a penetrating 
lubricant
mostly used on Bicycles, which has microscopic  Teflon(tm) bearing
in it.  It is an oil and is not extremely viscous so use it sparingly, 
but it did
the trick and freed up the PTO so it now spins nicely.  I also used 
some Q-tips
to clean up the residual gunk. I thought that I would pass this on just 
in case
anyone else is having PTO issues (inevitable with these rigs as the 
grease
in the PTO dries up).  I would highly recommend that you try this if 
your PTO
is frozen, before going to the extreme of doing a rebuild. Assuming 
that nothing
in the PTO is broken nor slipping this may be all that is needed.

Much to my surprise, the rig seems to receive fine on all bands and it 
also
has output on all bands, but my guess that it is long overdue for an 
alignment.
I am getting a little more than 2 watts out on 80m and 40m and a little 
more than
1 watt on 20 and 15 meters and about 1 watt on 10 meters.

Can anyone tell me what typical output should be for a well aligned rig?

The only other issue I encountered was I had intermittent audio when I 
tried to
switch in the external CW filter, but popping the lid off and spraying 
the switch
with contact cleaner fixed that pronto. Heck the dial lights even work!
I did however manage to break the stretchy part of the dial cord so I 
will have to
order a dial cord kit from Ten Tec.

Tonight I had the rig sitting on the bench in the basement with about 
20 feet of wire
strung out on the floor and I was copying some very strong CW stations 
on 80M.
I had forgotten how nice the audio from the 509 sounds.

Michael VE3WMB