[Boatanchors] restored radio question

[Donald Sanders]

Gerry, you can operate the radios in banks from a
reduced power source. Instead of a variac, I have
a transformer with two 6.3 volt 10 windings that
I wired with the secondaries in series with the 125
vac. The first winding goes to the top of a duplex
outlet and the second winding goes to the bottom
contacts. This allows me to run the radios at
125 - 6.3 on one outlet and 125 - 12.6 on the other
outlet.
I use a multiple outlet strip from each outlet
and place the oldest radios on the lowest voltage.
Using a 4 inch outlet box and a plate with the duplex
outlet and a on/off switch I can control the whole
bank from one switch. I only run them when I am
present and I mounted a smoke detector over the
radios. This allows me to work in the shop and have
them working.
BTW, I use a long wire antenna into a preamp into a
4 way cable splitter and then coax to each of 4
receivers so I can listen to 4 frequencies at once.
I monitor the most active AM freqs on 160, 80, 40,
and 20 plus a couple shortwave stations that I like.
Naturally I use my favorite receivers for this effort.

The others I turn on and run them about 2 days a week
for 4 to 6 hours total. They are in an air conditioned
shop and I have not had a failure in a couple years.
Though I have had a couple tubes that needed replacement
due to "age". I have a modest 8 receiver collection, was 15,
that I am weeding out for adoption in new loving homes.

My enjoyment has been returning them to operational
status, using them a while, and then replacing them with
a new project.  I still like to use my 75S3 and SX100 for
my station.
I hope this helps.

Healthfully yours,
                          Don W4BWS
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Steffens" <gsteffens at pitel.net>
To: <Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 9:05 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] restored radio question


> OK Anchorites, what do you think about the following?
>
>
>
> I have approaching 300 radios in the collection.  Many work fine to
adequate
> for now.  Many others have been fully restored.  Hopefully, more will be
> restored after retirement in a few years.
>
>
>
> How often and for how long per session should these functioning radios be
> turned on and used to preserve their functionality?
>
>
>
> Gerry
>
>
>
>
>
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>