[Hammarlund] HX-50 up and running

[Robert Sauvan]

Hi all,
A little update that I am pleased to announce. As you may recall, I was 
on a quest to fix a major "chirp" problem in my HX-50. I posted numerous 
questions on the reflector and also had pictures taken of the under 
carriage by another so I could see what a "stock" unit looked like 
because I was skeptical about some of the wiring and addons by a 
previous owner. I was slowly taking out various odd things and testing 
to make sure it still worked. During the course of this I always heard a 
faint arcing/crackling sound.  In the attempt to fix the unit by 
replacing all of the electrolytics and "can" style electrolytics, hoping 
this might be the problematic area, it finally blew the power 
transformer. This occurred on the replacement of the very last "can" 
style electrolytic. My question at the time was whether this was a self 
inflicted killing or coincidence. I ended up ordering a new transformer 
from Heyboer which took about 4 weeks to get. I put the transformer in, 
only to turn on the rig and start blowing fuses immediately. Now of 
course, Im wondering if the transformer was really the problem.
I spent a few days of emails back and forth with Al W8UT who guided me 
through every step to troubleshoot my problem. Without his expertise 
this radio would have gone to the junk pile. He was able to guide me to 
the areas to check with out turning on the radio and then finally I was 
able to pinpoint the problem. Apparently, one of the diodes I had 
replaced previously had shorted when the transformer blew and I wouldnt 
have had a clue without Al telling me what to do. I also spent a few 
hours retracing all of my wiring to be sure I wasnt the culprit. I 
replaced all of the diodes again, 4 of them, since it was cheap and easy 
and I felt if one went bad, the others were probably stressed. After 
more guidance from Al on how to test resistances to be sure they were in 
fact correct now, I then felt comfortable in putting the 5R4GY back in 
the rig and firing it up. I did just that and lo and behold we had a 
running radio!!
I have had the chance to put it on the air and I am now getting solid 
and excellent signal reports with "no chirp". Absolutely no 
arcing/crackling sounds coming from the radio. Lets keep our fingers 
crossed this has now been fixed for good and I can enjoy using this rig 
into the future.

Thanks for everyone's help and guidance in getting this radio going 
again and a special thanks to Al W8UT.

73, until we come across a new issue

Bob-W0YBS