[Johnson] Some more Ranger anomalies.

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 15:02:18 -0800 (PST)

Phil:
Glad to see you're still on that Ranger! I was inspired to "unretire" my own Ranger for upcoming SKN 2003. As we speak, she's under some blankets in my car awaiting a dustoff and waxing up. Let's see if I can help you with problems you are finding on that pesky Ranger:

#1. Readjust that keyer pot until you hear NO signal on a nearby HF radio. I had some problems with that until I did the adjustment and that did the trick. You see, that keyer circuit allows some sort of threshold level cutoff that will just turn the osc on before the driver buffer comes into play. Makes for a better keyed waveform but for some reason, that -52 VDC seems to throw me. I thought on grid blocking you should experience no voltages on the key but then again, I may be mistaken. That -52 VDC may be just that!

#2 Parasitics on 10 m. Your best bet is to have another non-modded Ranger to your own and compare/contrast the differences. I suspect it is a mechanical-electrical problem that is the cause of your woes. 

#3. Recheck that biasing to your modulator. Something is causing a "runaway" condition on a zero signal input to the mods. 

BTW, is your Ranger factory stock or a kit??? Let me know. Also, change out that L.V. cap on your Ranger. I change out the 30 uf 450 VDC axial to a 100 uF unit. Results are fantastic! All hum disappeared. I keep getting non-solicited remarks about my audio when I work AM on this ol' girl. 

73 de Cal, N6KYR es Merry Xmas. 

Philip Atchley <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi.
I have a Johnson Ranger (original) that I've been working with off and on
for the past couple of months or so. There were a number of "Issues" with
this Ranger including Parasitics on 10Meters due to a tank coil that was
missing nearly a full turn due to an earlier 6 Meter mod that was since
"undone". Every time I want to finally put this thing on the air there
seems to be some other little gremlin pops his head up. Yes, this unit has
been fully recapped, new filters, VFO resistor mod done and replaced etc
etc.

The setup here is the Ranger coupled with a Hammarlund HQ-110 receiver
through a Dow type antenna relay (not sure it's actually Dow). Contacts on
the relay open the B+ in the receiver to mute it during TX.

I REALLY want to get this thing up and running and hopefully use it on SKN
New Years Eve (or before)!! Anyway, thought I would do some CW on it,
probably more than I will AM and fired it up this afternoon on 20Meters.
Here are some things I've noted.

Some anomalies I see. Are 'any' of these "normal" for a Ranger or are they
all indicative of a deep rooted "psychosis" in the Ranger ;-)

1. In the STBY position of the operate switch I STILL get some VFO leakage
through to the receiver so that I hear a constant heterodyne, not conducive
to pleasant CW operation. A noisy band will almost cover it up but it's
still there. With the receiver on AM I can see it on the S meter as I tune
through it. The Crystal/VFO switch seems to function normally in that I get
a strong VFO signal in the Zero position.

2. In STBY I DO still get some Parasitic oscillations on the 10M band that
are apparently being generated by the 6146 stage as Tuning/loading affects
it somewhat. NOT nearly as bad as it was before I repaired the tank coil by
putting the required wire on it to bring it back from the modification.
apparently the Final tube is NOT fully cut off in while in standby, and,
yes, the clamp tube has been changed. BUT, it is still a problem. CAN A
BAD 6146 CAUSE THIS PROBLEM? I don't have a spare right now.

3. When in standby, if I tap the microphone I will get a loud burst of
noise from the speaker of the receiver as if the transmitter is trying to
come on. This has been largely eliminated by wiring the mic (D104 non
amplified type) so that the mic element is shorted until you squeeze the
grip. However, shouldn't the transmitter NOT respond to anything picked up
by the mic in standby? In short, it sounds to me like the final stage is
not getting fully cut off and this is adding to it's instability.

4. I've gone through the keyer circuit thoroughly and can find no problems
there that would preclude shutting the TX off in STBY (and the capacitors in
it have been replaced).

5. I read a -52 Volts across the handkey in either Standby or CW modes that
seems pretty close to what I would expect.

73 from the "Beaconeers Lair".
Phil, KO6BB

DX begins at the noise floor!
[email protected]
Merced, Central California
37.18N 120.29W CM97sh

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