[Boatanchors] Has anyone encountered "sabotage" while restoring/aligning R-388/51J-3's

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 18:44:33 -0700 (PDT)

BA's,

I did my Electronics Training in the Australian Department of Civil Aviation. We had practical
exams with this sort of "sabotage". I'm still burned up about an exam I was failed on, when I
found an open circuit cathode resistor, and reported that as the fault.

"No its not" was the reply from the instructor..

So I checked it again, It WAS an open circuit cathode resistor.
"NO  its not, give up ?".

OK what is it then ?

An open circuit wire, inside some spaghetti tubing going to the cathode resistor!!!!!

Real practical example of a fault you were likely to find in the wild, I DON'T THINK!!!.

Rodney
VK2KTZ

--- "Ray V." <[email protected]> wrote:
> Larry,
> 
> Yes, the "sabotage" could very well have been intentional. The purpose 
> was for training. When I was at Ft Sill as a comm officer in the Army 
> (back in the good old days) we deliberately modified radios that would 
> be used for technician training by going to the trouble of actually 
> making fake resistors and capacitors as well as "bad or false 
> connections" such as yours and installing them in otherwise perfectly 
> good radios. These radios were then used in the classroom to teach new 
> radio techs how to troubleshoot problems. Each test bench position had a 
> radio with a different defect and the class would work its way around 
> the benches until everyone had a chance to debug the radios and 
> determine what component had failed. You may have gotten a hold of one 
> or more of these "test mules" we modified for classroom instruction. 
> They were still in use long after I moved on so I have no idea what 
> would have happened to them when they were phased out. This was standard 
> military procedure and not limited to just Ft Sill. My dad was Navy and 
> he mentioned they used the same technique in Radioman School prior to 
> WW-II so it's been going on a long time.
> 
> 73, Ray  W2EC
> 
> 
> Lawrence Mayhew wrote:
> 
> > I am trying to finish up the last of my project Collins 51J-3 and R-388/URR
> > receivers, and of course I saved the ones that had not been "easy the first
> > time I worked on them" till last.
> > I have a couple that had very subtle disabling modifications done to them,
> > and I'm curious if any of you have experienced the same kind of thing.
> > One, a R-388/URR, had the filament lead to the 6AQ5 (audio amp.) carefully
> > severed and recovered with shrink fit tubing, and then hidden beneath the
> > power transformer. No chance this was anything other than intentional.
> > The other unit, a 51J-3, and a very nice "engraved" front panel in great
> > shape, had the slave coupler to the crystal switch loosened, the band switch
> > moved several steps, and then tightened again. Again, no way it just
> > slipped. I don't need to explain what a bitch this kind of devilishness
> > creates for the technician, especially when he is 70 years old.
> > 
> > The only thing I can imagine as a possible motive would be to get the unit
> > "surveyed" so that the saboteur could capture it in the subsequent surplus
> > sale.
> > Am I the only one who has seen this, or am I just the only one ornery enough
> > to keep at it till I found the problem?
> > Regards,..........Larry in Seattle
> > 
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> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
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> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **   
> ** For Assistance: [email protected] **         
> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$      
> http://www.w9wze.org    
> 

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