[Boatanchors] Kit Horror Stories / WRL Screen Modulator

[Philip Atchley]

Glen et al.
Hey, that reminds me of my first "Kit".  I first got interested in
electronics at the age of 10.  For my 11th birthday (1954) I received one of
those little AC/DC phono/microphone amplifier kits.  The kind with a 50C5,
35W4 & 12AX7, if I recall correctly it may have been a "Philmore".  Anyway,
as it was my first kit I didn't have a lot of tools or even a soldering
iron.  When I pointed this out to my parents they bought me a pair of
longnose pliers (still have em), dykes, screwdrivers etc.  No soldering iron
as they were afraid I'd "burn the house down" I guess.  With my "toolkit"
they provided me a tube of that "Liquid Solder" as they figured "Solder was
solder".   How was I to know that it was just silver colored airplane
cement??

Over the next few days I very carefully assembled my new kit and very
carefully "soldered" every connection, making sure all joints were evenly
and smoothly covered with solder.  It was a work of art.  (I had built a lot
of model planes by this time).

Imagine my disappointment when I turned it on and the tubes didn't even
light up.  I spent a few evenings going over every connection very carefully
making sure it went where it was supposed to.  I then took it down to a
nearby "Radio shop" where I spent a lot of time bugging the technician (He
also did all the two way stuff for the city).  He was a very patient elmer
for an 11 year old boy.  He looked at it and I feel that he probably did the
greatest act of his life when he held a straight face and explained that
"Liquid solder" was a good insulator and not a good thing to solder things
with.  He asked me to leave it and I got it back about a week later working.
I don't think I realized till many years later just how much of his valuable
time he probably spent scraping every connection and soldering them.  The
shame of it is I can't recall his name though I'm very sure he's repairing
St Peter's radios right now.  Thank you wherever you may be!!

73 de Phil  KO6BB

Loving home provided for wayward Boatanchor Receivers.
Military R-390A '67 EAC  (26 'valves').
Hallicrafters  SX-71 ('53) & 5R10A ('53).
Realistic  DX-160 ('78).
HOMEBREW  Longwave CW receiver.
Merced, Central California,
37.18N  120.29W  CM97sh.


> I have heard of various horror stories of how kits
> were wired.  But, until today, I had never really seen
> something that qualified as such.
>
> About a week ago, I was "surfing" through eBay and
> came across what was listed as a WRL microphone
> preamplifier.  Well, a quick look at the photo of the
> item showed that it was not a preamplifier, but the
> relatively scarce WRL SM-90 screen modulator which was
> made for the Globe Chief series of transmitters.
> Since there was less than 15 minutes to go on the
> auction, and since no one had bid on the items (there
> was a pair of high impedance headphones thrown in), I
> bid the minimum.  Well, I "won" the auction.
>
> The "goods" arrived this afternoon.  A quick look
> inside the modulator didn't show anything wrong.  But,
> then I took a closer look.  The modulator consists of
> a small printed circuit board, an audio transformer,
> an Amphenol microphone jack, an octal plug, and an
> octal socket mounted within a metal project box (the
> two tubes are inserted in holes in the side of the
> box).  Every part had been mounted on the circuit
> board, each lead brought through the opening, turned
> over, cut off to about 3/16 inch long, and a "spot" of
> solder had been put on the end of each wire!  Not a
> single wire was soldered to the circuit board!
>
> The same thing had been done with the octal plug and
> the octal socket.  A drop of solder had been applied
> to the end of each wire and not a single wire was
> actually soldered in place!  Obviously, whoever built
> this kit over 40 years ago did not have a "clue" as to
> how to build it!  Also, there is no way that the
> modulator could ever have worked.  Thus, the person
> who built it probably put it aside, forgot about it,
> and eventually it showed up as part of his/her estate.
>
> Now, I have no "beef" with the seller.  He is not an
> amateur, only ended up with the items as part of an
> estate sale, and put them up as what he thought they
> were.  I have been in contact with him not about this
> particular item, but we have been exchanging
> information on other subjects.  He is, in my opinion,
> a real nice guy!
>
> I had heard some "horror" tales from people who worked
> at Heath about some of the kits that were returned for
> service.  But, until now, I could only consider them
> to be "urban legends"!
>
> I have already cleaned the board and actually soldered
> all of the components in place, as well as actually
> soldering the plugs and jack.  All that is left is to
> modify my Globe Chief 90A and then I can try to relive
> my first day of upgrading from novice, for my first AM
> contact was made on a Globe Chief 90A using an SM-90
> modulator.
>
> But, I can now "feel" for those who had to rebuild the
> various kits that were returned as "problems"!
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
> =====
> Glen, K9STH