[Hammarlund] SP-600 First report, HC-10 question.

[brumac@juno.com]

Hi Phil,
        Congrats on your new SP-600 and the HC-10.    I also have a JX-17
and the IF Gain mod is legit and it takes a black knob.     Does it have
all ceramic caps or the infamous BBOD's?   If you have the latter, change
them out before they do some damage.    There are articles in "Hollow
State News" and on the Hammarlund web site, or you can contact Al Parker
who has been thru this a number of times. (I bought mine from Al and he
is a great fellow and a gentleman to boot!   None finer!)    Although
mine came equiped with ceramic caps and some postage stamp micas, I lost
the audio output transformer.     It took a while to find a replacement
and when I installed the "new" one, I also replaced all the caps in the
audio section.     I don't want to lose this one.   
        Good luck with it.   It' s my favorite radio.

Bruce MacLellan

 
On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 03:43:09 -0000 "Phil Atchley" <k06bb@elite.net>
writes:
> Hi.
> That SP600 JX17 and HC-10 showed up at my QTH early this afternoon.  
> This is
> about the 4th SP-600 I've had over the past few years.  Needless to 
> say,
> I've been a busy little beaver all afternoon 8^)  It seems that all 
> my BA
> "projects" arrive in the summertime instead of the winter like 
> normal folks.
> What's wrong with this picture?
> 
> Anyway, as the man told me before he came down, it'd be a "project" 
> as it
> needed some things done before it could be powered up.  He was 
> right.  While
> it wasn't badly "hacked", The leads to all the toggle switches had 
> been
> clipped at the switches, 5 tubes (2x 6BA6 and 2x 6C4, 5R4) were 
> missing,
> though the shields were there.  He brought me a 5R4 as he'd seen it 
> was out.
> I checked my junkbox and I have the others in it.
> 
> Apparently the man he'd "rescued" it from had intended to do a 
> restoration,
> including replacing the toggles and pulling the front panel but ran 
> into
> problems getting a couple knobs off.  After a great deal of 
> struggling I got
> the knobs off, pulled the panel and thoroughly cleaned the tuning 
> mechanism
> and dials.  The dials looked nice but had a film of dirt.  A damp 
> rag with
> NO SOAP OR SOLVENTS brought both dials up to looking like new.  
> Whatever was
> on them wasn't hard to get off.  What was a VERY sluggish and 
> slipping
> tuning mechanism now spins like an SP-600 dial should!  I installed 
> brand
> new toggle switches from my parts stock for all but the meter 
> switch.  Yes,
> they're Radio shack units but I still trust em more than 50 year 
> old
> switches! Reinstalled the front panel, knobs etc and quit for the 
> day!
> 
> Tomorrow I'll test all tubes, check/clean the turret switches etc, 
> then make
> a temporary silicon diode plug-in so that I can slowly bring the 
> unit up to
> form the caps, see if the filters are any good and temporally usable. 
>  If it
> comes to life I'll do some further testing.
> 
> XTAL NOTE:  The man I got this unit from said that the 3.5MHz Xtal 
> was
> missing from the unit.  First thing I did after he left was pull the 
> cover
> and take a "peek" inside.  The 3.5MHz Xtal IS there and doesn't look 
> like
> it's been messed with!  However, that doesn't mean it's any good, 
> but one
> can hope.  The 6C4 tube that works with it was missing, hmmm, I 
> wonder?
> 
> The ONLY modification that I can see has been done to the unit is 
> the Dial
> lock removed and an IF gain pot installed there. Anyone else seen 
> this mod
> anywhere?
> 
> So far I feel quite good about this set, it's definitely in overall 
> better
> shape than some I've seen, though the panel isn't as "beautiful" as 
> some
> I've seen.  At least all the correct knobs are there, though I DO 
> need to
> get a knob for the IF gain mod.  Hmm, I wonder, red or black ;-)
> 
> Power connection.  As with others on the list I see I too don't have 
> the
> proper cord.  For temp use while working/troubleshooting I'm 
> considering
> making a cord by taking a couple pins from an old octal tube socket 
> and
> putting them on a 3 wire cord for "push on" connectors.  Insulate it 
> and
> Anchor the cord such that it couldn't pull out and become a safety 
> hazard.
> 
> NOW THE HC-10 QUESTION:  The manual shows a tube socket adapter to 
> connect
> it to the last IF amplifier of the tube. I could make one of these 
> ok but
> can it be connected directly to an IF output jack of a receiver that 
> has
> one?  My homebrewed Beacon receiver with 455 KHz IF has a jack I put 
> on it.
> I see from the schematic that the input ties directly to the notch 
> filter.
> Would connecting direct affect the notch operation?
> 
> 73 de Phil, KO6BB
> DX begins at the noise floor!
> k06bb@elite.net
> Merced, California
> 37.18N  120.29W  CM97sh
> 
> 
> 
> avast! (VPS 6/1/2003): the message contains no virus
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