[Boatanchors] Lettine 240 Transmitter Plug In Coils

[Carl]

Nope, I wasnt trusted to do the wiring. I assembled the hardware, punched 
holes, etc. Grunt work in the unheated and poorly lit garage.

Run by 2 middle age brothers. Work done in the basement and garage of one. 
Wives did some assembly also. A real schlock operation run by schmucks using 
their ethnic terminology.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LEE BAHR" <pulsarxp at embarqmail.com>
To: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Lettine 240 Transmitter Plug In Coils


> So Carl, does this mean you were the crazy one who wired this puppy up? 
> (I hope you have improved your wiring skills since then).  I now know why 
> they used galvanized steel chassis as they could solder a ground 
> connection anywhere.  Tie points?  Who needs tie points!  It looks like 
> maybe they used a gutter company to manufacture their chassis.
>
> Do you know who owned Lettine?  Maybe you could give some insight 
> regarding the company and what is was like working there.  Or maybe you 
> don't want to relive that part of your life.  (Might bring up nightmares).
>
> Lee, w0vt
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
> To: "LEE BAHR" <pulsarxp at embarqmail.com>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Lettine 240 Transmitter Plug In Coils
>
>
>> Ah, the infamous Latrine 240. I spent many afternoon and weekend hours as 
>> a HS student helping to assemble those TVI generators for a most nasty 
>> and ungrateful pair of owners. At least they were in my home town and I 
>> could ride the bike there in about 15 minutes. I quit after about 3 
>> months and positively burnt the bridges behind me!
>>
>> Carl
>> KM1H
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "LEE BAHR" <pulsarxp at embarqmail.com>
>> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:15 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Lettine 240 Transmitter Plug In Coils
>>
>>
>>> As I mentioned earlier, the Lettine is a rats nest under the chassis.
>>> Everything needs to be replaced including the AC line cord.  The 
>>> transmitter
>>> was modified to include a changeover relay which is also in a rats nest
>>> fashion plus much of the cloth wiring looks like it could stand 
>>> replacing.
>>> Combine this with the fact many of the tie points have no lugs but are 
>>> just
>>> "free in the clear floating connections", I decided I will "strip the
>>> chassis down and start over.
>>>
>>> I ordered all new caps and resistors plus a 3 prong power cord yesterday
>>> from Mouser for the re-construction.  Lettine placed some of the parts 
>>> in
>>> some really strange places.  Because of this,  I am not sure I want to
>>> remove everything at once and then start over or just replace everything
>>> section by section.  I am inclined to do it the later way as the wierd 
>>> parts
>>> placement at times plus the lack of tie lugs, which I plan to add, lead 
>>> me
>>> to believe I can keep parts placement closer to original specs if I do 
>>> it
>>> section by section.  I'll probably start with the power supply and then 
>>> move
>>> on to the oscillator and then to the final.  Once the RF is working, 
>>> I'll
>>> move on the to audio input and modulator stages.  The only problem doing 
>>> the
>>> restoration this way is it is going to be harder replacing point to 
>>> point
>>> wiring.  (I think I need to take a few pictures of it as it now stands 
>>> in
>>> case I run into trouble.  I am a little nervous of using the BAMA manual 
>>> as
>>> it was "re-drawn".  (I already found three small mistakes in the BAMA
>>> re-drawn schematic).
>>>
>>> When ordering the new parts,  I ordered much larger wattage resistors 
>>> then
>>> the originals to make the new parts closer in size to the originals as 
>>> many
>>> new parts of the same wattage are much smaller today.  Instead of 8 mfd
>>> filtering I will have 16 mfd of power supply filtering.
>>>
>>> The plate choke and parasitic supressor as original are a real joke.  I 
>>> am
>>> seriously thinking of putting in a real multi-pi RF choke feeding the 
>>> 807
>>> plate and also put in a more standard parasitic supressor on the plate 
>>> lead.
>>>
>>> As it stands, this is a real complicated restoration when you consider 
>>> this
>>> is a simple transmitter with not too many parts.  The unorthodox layout, 
>>> bad
>>> wiring job, lack of tie points and rotted wires all make the restoration
>>> difficult more difficult.  Once restored, the bottom chassis will look 
>>> very
>>> unencumbered and look like it was a piece of cake to restore.
>>>
>>> Then, comes the restoration of a plug in coil set for this transmitter.
>>> This is a "cool" kind of rare transmitter.  If it were not for it's 
>>> great
>>> outside appearance, the time spent restoring this transmitter could not 
>>> be
>>> justified.  When finished it will be a jewel, but you could never get 
>>> your
>>> time and money out of it if you ever would want to part with it.  I know
>>> this going into the restoration.  As I mentioned earlier,  a WRL Globe 
>>> Scout
>>> 40A looks like a Collins internally compared to this rigs guts.  The 
>>> Lettine
>>> cabinet, front panel and transformers were all first class.  From that 
>>> point
>>> on it was all downhill.
>>>
>>> Lee, w0vt
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>