[Boatanchors] Re: Boatanchors Digest, Vol 57, Issue 17

Sun Oct 12 11:32:53 EDT 2008

Hi  R-390A owners with blown ballast tube problem:

My solution was to rewire the filament line to the 12 volt tap-lug on the 
power transformer.
Clean and simple. Another solution is to build a 12 V DC voltage regulated 
supply and feed the filaments from the original transformer tap;  might 
require series or bridge-tapped dropping resistor(s). A regulated supply 
would fulfill the original function of the ballast tube.

Hank/OU5T-OZ1UF, Copenhagen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <boatanchors-request at mailman.qth.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 5:47 AM
Subject: Boatanchors Digest, Vol 57, Issue 17

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: Polyester Capacitors in Johnson Ranger? (Carl)
>   2. Re: Polyester Capacitors in Johnson Ranger? (Jim Brannigan)
>   3. CW Classic Exchange CX tomorrow (J.D. Mac Aulay, WQ8U)
>   4. R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM  (William Kipping)
>   5. Re: R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM  (Greg Roecker)
>   6. RE: R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM  (Craig C. Heaton)
>   7. Dr. Max and Frogzilla On Sunday Halli Net! (Duane Fischer, W8DBF)
>   8. Re: R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM  (WA5CAB at cs.com)
>   9. R-392 (jsloss)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:29:38 -0400
> From: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Polyester Capacitors in Johnson Ranger?
> To: <WA5CAB at cs.com>, <mharmon at att.net>, <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <2721149EFBF0429AA2E621787F095694 at KITTYMA123>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> The Sangamo 33 came out around 1954 (its in the 1955 Masters but not the
> 1953) and was a replacement for the infamous earlier type 30 "Redskin".
> The 33 was indeed a turquoise or similar color, certainly not green.
>
> I'll refrain from commenting on HBX as I dont need any ATF loonies
> knocking down my doors. I'll stick to FFg for now.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <WA5CAB at cs.com>
> To: <mharmon at att.net>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 1:52 AM
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Polyester Capacitors in Johnson Ranger?
>
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> You may have run into disinformation, which unfortunately is the
>> Internet's
>> primary product.  According to the Sangamo catalog sections in the
>> 1960 and
>> 1963 Radio Master, the Type 33 is a molded paper dielectric capacitor.
>> The color
>> is not mentioned, but memory says green.  The 1963 catalog lists a
>> Type 33M,
>> with mylar dielectric (mylar is a polyester), but it isn't in the
>> 1960.  The
>> molded case material is not actually given.  Sangamo called it
>> "Humiditite".
>>
>> The Sprague Black Beauties also used Mylar plus paper.  But the
>> catalog entry
>> also says they were impregnated with HCX.  Maybe that was their
>> downfall.
>> Had to read it twice to make sure it didn't say HBX, but fortunately
>> only cannon
>> cockers and Minemen would know what that is.
>>
>> In a message dated 10/11/2008 12:04:05 AM Central Daylight Time,
>> mharmon at att.net writes:
>>> Anyway, I was inventorying the caps with the intent to replace them,
>>> and
>>> I noticed a number of turquoise axial lead caps which were marked
>>> Sangamo Type 33.  I did some research and found that these are
>>> polyester
>>> caps.  The solder jobs look professional, but I thought polyester
>>> caps
>>> came along well after the late Fifties when the Ranger was built
>>> (yes,
>>> it was a factory job - all rivets).  In the early Sixties I was a
>>> high
>>> school kid with a terminal case of screwdriver-itis.  The TV
>>> repairman
>>> used to bring old chassis by the house and unload them for me to
>>> cannibalize, much to the chagrin of my mom!  The only kind of caps I
>>> remember seeing back then were molded micas, disk ceramics, nasty,
>>> dripping wax-paper caps, and a lot of black beauties, which were a
>>> sealed wax paper, foil, and oil abomination.
>>>
>>> Could these caps be OEM?  Were polyester caps available back in the
>>> late
>>> Fifties?  If so, they couldn't have been cheap.  If Johnson engineers
>>> put them in their transmitters at the factory, the company must have
>>> believed that they were worth the extra cost.
>>>
>>
>> Robert Downs - Houston
>> wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
>> MVPA 9480
>>
>>
>> **************
>> New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your
>> destination.  Dining, Movies, Events, News &amp; more. Try it out
>> (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002)
>>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:48:13 -0400
> From: Jim Brannigan <jbrannig at optonline.net>
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Polyester Capacitors in Johnson Ranger?
> To: "Michael D. Harmon" <mharmon at att.net>, boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID: <DA308CF3CE8E4D80A9D2BA1CBE7A7290 at DJCK4V71>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
> reply-type=response
>
> Mike,
> You have some work ahead of you.
> Phil Salas wrote about the Ranger http://www.ad5x.com/, I followed his
> advise.
>
>
> Good luck
> Jim
>
>>I am in the process of rebuilding a Johnson Ranger transmitter which had
>>been butchered and stripped before it fell into my hands.  Its previous
>>owner was a splatter jockey who clipped, tacked, tweaked and cold-soldered
>>anything on the poor old girl which could be.  Knobs were gone, mod
>>transformer was missing (big wax pool underneath its previous location
>>where it had melted down), all shields were missing, wires were clipped
>>under the chassis, and capacitors tacked in place where there weren't
>>supposed to be any.  He even had removed the mike jack and tacked the mic
>>input wire to the key jack.  I guess he was trying to hook up a crude PTT.
>>
>> Anyway, I was inventorying the caps with the intent to replace them, and 
>> I
>> noticed a number of turquoise axial lead caps which were marked Sangamo
>> Type 33.  I did some research and found that these are polyester caps.
>> The solder jobs look professional, but I thought polyester caps came 
>> along
>> well after the late Fifties when the Ranger was built (yes, it was a
>> factory job - all rivets).  In the early Sixties I was a high school kid
>> with a terminal case of screwdriver-itis.  The TV repairman used to bring
>> old chassis by the house and unload them for me to cannibalize, much to
>> the chagrin of my mom!  The only kind of caps I remember seeing back then
>> were molded micas, disk ceramics, nasty, dripping wax-paper caps, and a
>> lot of black beauties, which were a sealed wax paper, foil, and oil
>> abomination.
>>
>> Could these caps be OEM?  Were polyester caps available back in the late
>> Fifties?  If so, they couldn't have been cheap.  If Johnson engineers put
>> them in their transmitters at the factory, the company must have believed
>> that they were worth the extra cost.
>>
>> I'm probably going to solid-state the power supplies, primarily to reduce
>> the heat in the cabinet, as well as reduce some of the HV slump.  I'll
>> probably add some of the nicer mods like PTT, but I don't intend to try 
>> to
>> redesign the audio system for 30-15,000 Hz response.  Maybe I'm wrong, 
>> but
>> it seems like a slippery slope to me.
>>
>> Mike, WB0LDJ
>> mharmon at att dot net
>> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:06:36 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "J.D. Mac Aulay, WQ8U" <jmac6235 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Boatanchors] CW Classic Exchange CX tomorrow
> To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID: <893046.240.qm at web54605.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> It's time to get out those favorite old boat anchors and fire up the tubes 
> for another fun filled day of CW in the Classic Exchange. Starts at 9AM 
> Eastern time and goes until Midnight West Coast time. See the web site for 
> details
> www.qsl.asti.com/CX
>
> CU in CX
> 73
> Mac
> WQ8U
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:07:19 -0600
> From: "William Kipping" <ke7kk at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
> To: "boatanchors" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <410-220081061122719234 at earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
>
> Hi to All
> I recently purchased an R390A, (my first)  No surprise the 3TF7 ballast
> tube is open. I know of the three easy fixes,(45ohm 10w resistor, or a
> jumper and use 12ba6s in the pto/bfo, or use a 12BY7 as a load)   Thought
> I would ask for recommendations on which to use. Also if using a 12BY7 as
> the filament load fix , are any other jumpers needed on the tube socket or
> just a plug in Thanks for your advice Bill KE7KK
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:51:25 -0400
> From: "Greg Roecker" <n4osj at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
> To: <ke7kk at earthlink.net>, "boatanchors" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <59ADE396081A49C2A16831E4D79E9FD5 at home15f5cdaaed>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> Hi Bill.....I did the resistor route about 15 years ago.  My Stewart 
> Warner
> has worked 4.0 the entire time.  I mounted it inside the chassis.  Your
> mileage may vary....but for me the resistor works great!  Good luck!
>
> 73,
>
> Greg/n4osj
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "William Kipping" <ke7kk at earthlink.net>
> To: "boatanchors" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 6:07 PM
> Subject: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
>
>
>>
>>
>> Hi to All
>> I recently purchased an R390A, (my first)  No surprise the 3TF7 ballast
>> tube is open. I know of the three easy fixes,(45ohm 10w resistor, or a
>> jumper and use 12ba6s in the pto/bfo, or use a 12BY7 as a load)   Thought
>> I would ask for recommendations on which to use. Also if using a 12BY7 as
>> the filament load fix , are any other jumpers needed on the tube socket 
>> or
>> just a plug in Thanks for your advice Bill KE7KK
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:04:56 -0700
> From: "Craig C. Heaton" <wd8kdg at worldnet.att.net>
> Subject: RE: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
> To: <ke7kk at earthlink.net>, "'boatanchors'"
> <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Bill,
>
> I'll place my vote with the 12BA6's used for the PTO/BFO and a jumper
> between pins 2 & 7 on the ballast tube socket. Two R-390/A in my shack 
> have
> been running that way for several years, no problems.
>
> One of them had the 12BY7 mod, I removed the mod! Can't remember the
> details, but the tube socket for the ballast tube is wired different.
>
> Craig,
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of William Kipping
> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 3:07 PM
> To: boatanchors
> Subject: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
>
>
>
> Hi to All
> I recently purchased an R390A, (my first)  No surprise the 3TF7 ballast
> tube is open. I know of the three easy fixes,(45ohm 10w resistor, or a
> jumper and use 12ba6s in the pto/bfo, or use a 12BY7 as a load)   Thought
> I would ask for recommendations on which to use. Also if using a 12BY7 as
> the filament load fix , are any other jumpers needed on the tube socket or
> just a plug in Thanks for your advice Bill KE7KK
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:10:30 -0400
> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
> Subject: [Boatanchors] Dr. Max and Frogzilla On Sunday Halli Net!
> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <004001c92bff$304edf60$b6ea1240 at hpdc5100mt>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
>
>
> Join us for news about HB9RS, Dr. Max De Henseler and the opening to the
> public of his Hallicrafters collection donated to the Swiss Air Force
> Museum. See on the HHI web site (soon) the photo of Max and the ESA
> Astronaut, from Switzerland, at the historic event. And with any luck,
> Frogzilla will croak!
>
> Yo Bipedal Locomotive Stereoscoptic Homo Sapiens!
>
> It is I, Frogzilla! Fresh from the Florida Everglades! Meaner
> than a constipated swamp Gator with a barbed fishing hook
> dangling from his nasal nostril and slicker than a graphite
> greased vinyl seat on a golf cart! I had to make an early
> excursion north to check on the habitable status of the now
> famous backyard by his Pine woods pond owned by W8DBF, Duane
> Fischer, that I made into a suburban amphibian legend!
>
> I had not planned to be back in Michigan this early, but the
> state of Florida was spraying everything in the visible light
> spectrum for mosquitoes! I tried repeatedly to get a pool
> side spot to squat, but every motel from that one that
> 'leaves the light on for ya' to some flea farm with dwarf
> star prices for four star rooms, had so much chlorine in the
> water that my hide started to itch fifty feet away!  One
> Beast Western in southern Ohio offered me a spot for free in
> their live Lobster tank! May some Termites eat the heart of
> your untreated wood wall studs out Motel Ate!  First you'll
> think you are seeing dust, then realize that dust you saw is
> actually sawdust! CROAK!
>
> Hopefully most of you will not have your neuron powered think
> tanks get tied up in more knots then found in the Boy Scout
> survival manual by this 'round two' of the day is light and
> its bright to save time thing! Like who gives a bald headed
> Beaver's buck tooth dental floss kit as to what numeral the
> big hand on the manually wound mainspring powered watch
> points to anyhow?  Humans either arrive somewhere and blurt
> out; "Sorry I'm late!" or "Hey, I'm early!" If they should by
> some cosmic fluke actually be on time, depending on whether
> you are female or male, look at you as if that little snag in
> your panty hose is now a marathon runner or wonder why your
> Levis zipper is at half mast! Einstein proved in his General
> Theory Of Relativity V12.7, that it is not possible to "save
> time", money or a bad marriage!  The best that humans have
> ever been able to do consistently is to have the wrong time!
> They can't even agree on which atomic clock is correct, so
> they average them out and call it UTC, AKA Coordinated Time
> Universal. Why call it UTC when it is short formed to CUT?
> Ask the French! CROAK!
>
> Remember to join the blind dude tomorrow, Sunday October 12th
> for the HHI 20 meter Net. He kicks the Pre-Net off at 12:45
> PM EST/EDT, (1645 UTC). Then he launches the Net proper at
> 1:15 PM EST/EDT, (1715 UTC).
>
> The frequency is 14.293 MHZ usb +/-. (I can not say "Key
> clicks, mike splatter or ..." as he has it copyrighted and if
> he got dumb lucky and caught me plagiarizing he would skin me
> butt naked with his dull ancient Swiss Army knife and roast
> me over a pair of 3-500z's!).  So just drift back and forth
> between 14.292 and 14.293 and you will hear W8DBF hawking his
> Hallicrafters wares like a California sidewalk vender
> pitching budget hotdogs that a few short minutes back were
> still barking!  CROAK!
>
> I may hop into the Ham Shack and give the Net an ear. So you
> dudes better be careful just what words about all things
> amphibian that escape your lips! That is, if I can sneak
> through the blind wonders LASER powered motion sensors that
> could cut me off at my knees or transform me into a pond
> green frog fog! Or worse, get seen by his interior satellite
> tracking system that instantly vaporizes any entity not
> having a blue crayon check mark by its itty bitty digital
> image in the database memory by flash roasting it in a huge
> EMF field intense enough to make a Georgia swamp bus station
> steak tender!
>
> Hear you Homo Sapiens tomorrow! Keep your knees together and
> your ankles loose! You gotta get the right dangle on that
> vertical takeoff angle. If it has a warm glow and doesn't
> make a Geiger counter chirp like a Bluebird that sat on an
> electric fence, then it is a vintage vacuum tube radio dude!
>Keep those gassy tubes glowing, keep those trout streams
> flowing and if your life is adrift on an economic sea with
> hurricane winds of "greetings from King Neptune!" velocity ,
> and you can't walk on water, ya better start rowing! Unless
> your name happens to be Jonah! Now there is a Whale of a
> tail! CROAK!
>
> Frogzilla
>
>
> Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
> E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
>
> Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
> HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:29:34 EDT
> From: WA5CAB at cs.com
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] R-390A FIX FOR THE 3TF7 PROBLEM
> To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID: <c2a.3a0600c8.3622bb0e at cs.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I have no personal experience with the problem as all the sets I have had
> still had a working ballast tube.  But all three solutions do away with 
> the
> current regulation function to wash out the heater current change due to 
> varying
> line voltage.  So I would go with the minimum heat load solution, which is 
> a
> jumper and a pair of 12BA6's.  It dissipates half the heat of the other 
> two.
>
>
>> Hi to All
>> I recently purchased an R390A, (my first)  No surprise the 3TF7 ballast
>> tube is open. I know of the three easy fixes,(45ohm 10w resistor, or a
>> jumper and use 12ba6s in the pto/bfo, or use a 12BY7 as a load)   Thought
>> I would ask for recommendations on which to use. Also if using a 12BY7 as
>> the filament load fix , are any other jumpers needed on the tube socket 
>> or
>> just a plug in Thanks for your advice Bill KE7KK
>
> Robert Downs - Houston
> wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
> MVPA 9480
>
>
> **************
> New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your
> destination.  Dining, Movies, Events, News &amp; more. Try it out
> (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002)
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:34:46 -0700
> From: "jsloss" <k7mks at comcast.net>
> Subject: [Boatanchors] R-392
> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <8142DAB619A7493E9528DEE3465DC5F3 at JLSLOSS>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I need the oldham coupler insert, or the whole coupler,  that connects the 
> Bandwidth shaft with switching circuits.  This coupler can be seen thru a 
> small square opening in the right hand side of receivers chassis.
>
> Fair Radio does not have this part.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joe k7mks
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> End of Boatanchors Digest, Vol 57, Issue 17
> *******************************************
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