[Hammarlund] Newly aquired HQ-129x

[William A Kulze]

Good day, All. Last night I picked up a fairly nice 129x, SN on chassis is 2246. Red letter version, all original knobs. It has the FS-135-C 100kc freq standard installed. Real clean job. Switch in lower left corner of front panel, symmetrical to the phone jack. The only mods I can see the original owner made is an SO-239 and an RCA for the speaker. There's also an RCA on the back labeled Q Multi, haven't traced it out yet. I guess I'm the third owner. Work reasonably well, but I figure I'll be recapping it for sure. I spent the whole morning going through the archives all the way back to Jan 2002! Phew! I've got a couple of questions that I didn't see mentioned.

I checked all the tubes last night using a TV7. All checked above the min except the 6H6. I had a couple handy, so found a good one. What I'm wondering is, some of the 6SS7's were hotter than others. Whereas the min reading on the TV7 was 46, I had 52, 60, 68 and 72. Is there any preferred arrangement for where the hotter ones are better and where to avoid with them?

I downloaded a copy of the manual but it is a nasty resolution. Is there somewhere I can download a better one or do I have to spend some cash and get a quality copy for sale someplace? Does someone have a good quality Schematic, at least? It is very small on an 8-1/2x11. I can print 11x17 if I can get a clean copy. I used to be a PCB designer and I have some of the CAD software still. When I can get to it I will probably re-create the schematic and make it available as a pdf.

The IF alignment procedure says where to inject the signal but not where to connect the scope. Seems like when I did my Super Pro 210 I found a spot in the schematic similar to the Diode Load on the R390a and used that, but it was a while ago.

I hope to get some pictures posted at some point, we'll let ya know.

Anyway, thanks in advance. All my other radios are in various stages of needing work, so it's nice to have one that's already working. My wife is even going to let me have it in the living room! If you knew her, you'd know that's' big! Her motto for everything is "It's got to look good!".

Thanks again,
Bill W2NVD