[HBR] Projects

Tue Apr 29 01:03:36 EDT 2008

Thanks Vern, for your thoughtful comment.
I agree of couse, that if an "old soldier" piece of
gear has already been dismantled for parts, or has
been butchered or neglected and abused beyond
reasonable hope of restoration, then by all means,
make the best use of it possible. My thought was for a
piece which may just need some repair, some cleaning,
some paint, i.e. some TLC & effort to 'sail well &
pretty' again. I just think it's a crime to rip into a
thing of form and [potential] functionality, which was
not junk originally, and which has historical
significance, for something like its dial/drive
mechanism. Especially when there may be only a limited
number of surviving examples. I do not see that if a
given device went through an evolutionary process
during its production life cycle, that the  validity
of this point would be diminished; quite the opposite
in fact, since the aspects of rarity and uniqueness
become of even more significance in this case.   
Regarding the availiability of suitable commercial
dial drives from "back in the day", I just watched a
quality, cherry, Millen dial & drive unit, still with
it's original box, go on [ebay] auction for $70.00 and
it is by no means an uncommon occurence. This is not
cheap, but hardly a "King's Ransome" either
considering the functional and aesthetic importance of
the device towards completion of the cherished project
at issue. I have also seen a number of dials by
Millen, J.W. Miller, National, Eddystone and others
sell for much less at swap meets, and good dial
mechanisms and fine, double-bearing variable
capacitors as well can often be taken from old,
derelict, Japaneese AM/FM tuners, recievers, or even
mass-produced car radios and adapted to the purpose
with excellent results, given a bit of ingenuity.
People have also constructed excellent home made
dial/drives over the years. One that comes to mind is
described in the 175-Watt ssb transmitter construction
project on page 688 of "The Radio Handbook" ;18th
edition (1970; by William Orr W6SAI). There are
others, shown for reciever and transciever projects in
this same book; other editions as well.
I am not trying to be contentious or insulting. I
deeply appreciate & respect the spirit of real Amateur
radio that survives and thrives within this group. I
thought that this had died out, but please realize,
there are _always_ alternatives to slaughtering a
fine, old, restorable radio. As I said; a little
patience, a little research, a little persistence &
ingenuity.....
73, DSR
--- Vern VanZ <n7gtb at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi Scott,
> 
> Your point is well taken, and for the most part I
> feel as you do.  :)
> 
> As I may have mentioned before the case, front
> panel, main tuning and dial assembly were all
> purchased from the online auction site.  Someone
> else had already disassembled the mother ship to
> sell off as pieces-parts...  I was the only bidder
> and hence the winner of those items.  Since that
> time I have been able to 'rescue' a complete RME-45
> receiver with matching speaker, but they are in
> really really sad condition... 
> 
> My intent is to someday restore the complete unit
> and speaker.  However, someone in the distant past
> has already made significant modifications to it and
> I'm not certain of how 'faithful' a restoration
> could be made (replaced pwr xfrmer, holes for
> control of an added FM discriminator were drilled in
> the front panel, circuit mods, etc.).  At best I
> think it could be cleaned up and made operational. 
> So this will likely be the project I tackle in my
> 'final' years...
> 
> As for patience, how long should one wait?  I also
> have to think of budget unfortunately, and the
> Millen, National, etc. dials that have I have seen
> 'available' went for (what is for me) nearly a
> King's ransom...  So for good or bad, I've decided
> to go with what is at hand rather than what appeases
> sentimentality.  :)    I try to purchase only
> 'junkers' and at minimum bid so that if someone else
> feels more strongly than I about an item, I'm
> (hopefully) not affecting their bottom line too
> adversely, and also not taking too much resources
> away from restorers of vintage equipment...
> 
> 73's
> -Vern N7GTB
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: David Richards <wb8rav at yahoo.com>
> To: HBR Receiver List <hbr at mailman.qth.net>
> Cc: Al <alparkham at aol.com>
> Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 10:43:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [HBR] Projects
> ... but at the
> risk of ruffling feathers, I for one, hope with
> humility that this was a true junker of an RME-45. I
> believe that it would be truly a shame to sacrifice
> and consume a decent example of one of these fine
> and
> unique recievers in pursuit of a homebrew project.
> ...
> C'mon guys, I see nice examples of dials, often NOS
> by
> Millen and others, on eBay on a regular basis, and
> for
> not unreasonable prices. All one needs is a little
> patience.
> With all good wishes,
> Scott, WB8RAV
> 
> 
>      
>
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