[Johnson] Viking Ranger

Sat, 11 Oct 2003 21:23:21 -0700 (PDT)

Good score Phil,

Weaknesses in a Ranger, a rig that old has probably
got alot of them so you should go through it and purge
it of any paper capacitors, dried up electrolytics and
out of tolerance old carbon resistors, don't forget to
check the meter shunt resistors. Design flaws are also
there, in particular the well known and documented
regulator tube melt down problem in the VFO due to an
inadequtely sized voltage dropping resistor. Also I
really don't like how the screen voltage is derived
for the PA, through a tap on the bleeder. The bleeder
dissipates way too much power and gets everything hot
under the chassis near it, best thing to do is put a
higher value bleeder in and derive screen voltage from
the low voltage power supply. I also have heard of
problems with the reliability of the drive level pot.
Enjoy your new old toy.

Mark WA1QHQ
--- Philip Atchley <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi.
> Today a Ranger (the original not a II )walked in my
> front door (actually as
> carried in by yours truly since it doesn't have legs
> 8^).
> 
> This is one that I overhauled and did some audio
> mods a couple years or so
> back for another gentleman.  Now it's arrived on
> "permanent loan" along with
> a Dow coax relay (with extra contacts) and a D-104
> Mic.  He's also loaning
> me a handkey on the same terms since he knows I much
> prefer CW to AM.
> 
> My original intent was to use it with my
> Hallicrafters SX-71 but that set is
> just a little too drifty on CW to do serious
> operating if I have better
> choices, which I do.   It'll be mated with a Yaesu
> FRG-100 (BLASPHEMY ??)
> Though fully functional now, I should have it on the
> air in a few days to a
> week since I want to check the tubes etc.  Then I
> want to get a few hours
> practice on the handkey as it's been 3-4 years since
> I've operated any CW.
> Need to get my "fist" back.
> 
> But a couple quick questions.  Does this rig have
> any weaknesses I should be
> aware of?  It has the later keying mod with the
> extra tube/chassis.  Will it
> give better service if I load it lightly at somewhat
> reduced power?  I don't
> have a lot of money to keep buying tubes for it.
> 
> 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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