[Boatanchors] HT-20

[john fitzsimmons]

I have one that's near mint; even the chassis is still shiny.  When I first powered it up, it blew smoke from the parasitic suppressor.  Replaced the resistor inside, and it worked great into a D/L til I got to 10 meters, then it started blowing a LOT of smoke out the top.

Fearing the worst I removed the bazillion screws (again), and it was the damn parasitic suppressor again.  This time, I made a new one (copied the 32V design) and it's been fine ever since.  I don't know if that reflects a poor design, or someone replaced the assembly at some time in the past.  Looking at the rig it appears it was hardly ever used and perhaps the original owner gave up on it when the suppressor fried.

Mine has a fiber shaft going to the final tune assembly, which broke while cranking the final.  I replaced it with another fiber shaft, but i'm careful to turn the knob via the edge rather than horsing on the crank.

--- On Fri, 6/18/10, Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:

From: Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] HT-20
To: W9RAN at oneradio.net, boatanchors at mailman.qth.net, hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010, 7:47 PM

Im still looking for one! I already have a HT-18 which is driving a HT-9 for 
now.

That is one strange parasitic suppressor!

Carl
KM1H


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Nickels" <ranickel at comcast.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>; <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] HT-20


On 6/18/2010 5:38 PM, Brian Harris wrote:
> I have been offered an HT-20 that is minus the cabinet and has front paint 
> that's peeling.  As I have never owned/used/seen one before I am clueless 
> as to its value or desireability.

Brian,

They're fairly rare, and a very desirable transmitter in my opinion.
Mine was in such bad shape due to years of storage in a humid area that
not a single shaft could be turned, and I ended up having to drill out
both setscrews in each knob!   Before I committed to restoration I
checked out all the iron, thinking that a bad transformer would be a
deal-killer.  But they all checked OK, and other than the normal R and C
replacements, restoration went pretty well.  I did end up having to
replace the two variable caps in the driver stages due to excessive
corrosion that resulted in arcing, but I thought this was a pretty good
testimony to the quality of the design and construction, in light of the
shape it was in when I got it.   My front panel was redone by W3HM when
WØYVA was restoring a couple of HT-20s and with the powder-coat finish
it now looks better than new.   I have it paired with an SX-88 and an
HT-18 VFO and get excellent reports on the air and it's solid as a rock
when putting out 120 watts of carrier.

I put a few pics up when I was working on it:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v652/ranickel/HT-20/

The HT-20 is basically Hallicrafters version of a Johnson Viking I,
built to co-exist with TV-watching neighbors.   Unless you find major
problems I'd sure restore it!

73, Bob W9RAN

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