[Boatanchors] Rangers, Elmacs and other BA's

[Jerry Kincade]

All part of the charm of operating boatanchors. It's also one of the reasons
I like my R-390A's, one of which is hooked up to "transceive" with the
Ranger II. BTW, I got a couple of Brian Carling's "new" FT-243 crystals
(3880 and 3885) and stuck them in the Ranger. Deeeeeluxe. They work great,
with their actual freqs being about 150 Hz lower than stated on both. It
seems weird to hit the power switch and be able to talk drift-free on the
Ranger within a couple of minutes. Now the locals don't have to chase me on
75 meters for the first half hour I'm on. FWIW, I cut the warmup and
settle-down time on the Ranger II VFO from about 45 min to less than half
that just by laying a small 120VAC fan on top of the cabinet in the power
supply area. The fan is hooked up to the same metered Variac that powers the
390A and the Ranger, so it only comes on when the Ranger is powered up. Try
it, it works. Most of the drift was directly related to cabinet interior
heating from the three power supply tubes.
73, Jerry W5KP

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <windy10605 at juno.com>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 3:45 PM
Subject: Fw: [Boatanchors] Rangers, Elmacs and other BA's


> Phil,
>
> >On CW this receiver is NOT the most stable critter around, but with the
> Xtal filter
> >it has pretty good selectivity and otherwise performs very well.  To
> >hopefully help stability I may put a couple fans over it with a
> >homebrewed thermostatic speed control (with the A/C running it doesn't
> >seem to take a lot of temperature change to cause a shift in frequency
> as
> >the A/C cuts on and off). Even after a lengthy warm-up, if I monitor a
> >long term CW signal (like W6ADO's code practice sessions) I get to chase
> >the signal back and forth.  How did "old timer's" do it, one hand on the
> >key and one on the tuning knob <grin> ?
>
> ....I used to chase their signals on my old tube receiver but figured it
> was only fair because they were chasing mine on their old tube receivers.
> Best fix is to have all osc voltages regulated, keep it all cool to
> minimize temp effect, and add mechanical stability.
>
> 73 Kees K5BCQ
> _______________________________________________
> Boatanchors mailing list
> Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
> http://www.w9wze.org
>
>