[Johnson] Ranger 1

[C E]

Yes, this is true. The stock 18k resistor is rated at
3 watts, a little undersized for this VFO. What I did
was park a terminal lug strip in the main chassis
directly underneath the VFO and bolted it where the
l.v. capacitor is mounted (since I changed out that
cap to something that didn't need a mounting strap). I
then clipped out the old 18k resistor and soldered a
pair of leads to the terminals and piped the leads
down to the terminal lugs and connected a 20k 5 watt
wire wound resistor there. Ran the Ranger real fine
after that with added peace of mind. 

Cal, N6KYR/8.

--- Brian Carling <bcarling at cfl.rr.com> wrote:

> There is also a resistor that needs to be replaced
> going to 
> the VFO.  I think it is like 18 K ohms.
> You need to move it OUTSIDE The VFO box from what I
> was told.
> 
> There may be more to this. I expect that an expert
> or two 
> on here will chime in and help you some more!
> 
> > Adrian,
> > In addition to my stock comments below.  I
> replaced all the silver micas in 
> > the VFO.
> > 
> > When these radios were built the only stable
> transmitter was crystal 
> > controlled.  Receivers were not very narrow and
> they drifted also, everyone 
> > learned to live with it.
> > After a warm up period the Ranger should be
> "reasonably" stable.  While it 
> > is fun to operate on CW, I would not consider it a
> serious CW radio in 2006.
> > 
> > Jim
> > 
> > When I acquired my Ranger I, I assessed the radio
> mechanically and
> > electrically, it appeared to be a kit build and
> had a number of
> > modifications.  It was 50 years old and time for
> some serious TLC.
> > I decided to bring it back to factory new
> conditions.  Not pristine, but
> > working as it should have left the factory with
> updated power supplies and
> > PTT.
> > Part of my goal was that I did not want to replace
> a component a week until
> > it worked properly.
> > 
> > A search of the WEB returned a number of good
> articles.  I read each one and
> > decided which ones to incorporate in the new/old
> radio.
> > The BAMA site has the user manual and construction
> manual, a must have.
> > 
> > I took the radio apart and gave it a good cleaning
> with "Simple Green" and a
> > garden hose.
> > After a through drying, I replaced all
> electrolytics, interstage capacitors,
> > some bypasses, metering resistors and anything
> that looked slightly funny. A
> > three wire power and fuse installed.
> > The power supplies were solid-stated and a PTT
> circuit added.
> > Deoxit and lithium grease were used where
> appropriate.
> > 
> > I was rewarded with a radio that played (almost, a
> few tweaks were needed)
> > and has run without incident for 6 months.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > Greetings to all on the list .
> > >
> > > I have recently aquired a Ranger 1 which was
> sold to me as a runner, 
> > > however
> > > it does have some problems, namely vfo stability
> (or rather, lack of). 
> > > I'm
> > > recently licensed and bought this to use
> exclusively for cw work, mainly 
> > > on
> > > 40/20 metres.  The vfo seems okay on the
> 1.75-2.0 mhz, and I hit the marks 
> > > on
> > > the meter and get about 40-50w into the dummy
> load, sounds pretty clean, 
> > > but
> > > on the 7mhz tank it's all over the place, I've
> never heard anything quite 
> > > so
> > > bad to be honest, plus on this band 40/20/15
> etc, the buffer current drops 
> > > by
> > > over half and I get sprogs all over the band
> from v3.   I see it's had the
> > > "standard" fire in the vfo box but that's all
> fixed, just had to sweep 
> > > some
> > > ash out and replace R3/v2, and I've replaced
> c12/c13 to no avail ... but 
> > > the
> > > bit that bothers me is that the LV rectifier
> tube has been solid stated 
> > > and
> > > is now giving close to 400 volts, isn't that too
> high, should I be 
> > > thinking
> > > of putting a series regulator in there to get it
> back down to 300v or is 
> > > it
> > > better to look at obtaining another 6ax5?
> > > I wasn't expecting miracles, but am I perhaps
> expecting too much from it 
> > > re
> > > h/f cw work? ie, if I do go to the trouble of
> completely removing the vfo,
> > > replacing everything, stabilising the 300v, can
> I reasonably expect to be
> > > able to use it on cw? or should I rather box it
> up now and pass it on to
> > > somebody who's interested in AM, where the
> frequency instability would
> > > probabably not be so readily noticed?
> > >
> > > Your thoughts and comments would be greatly
> appreciated.
> > >
> > > Thanks and 73
> > >
> > > Adrian ZS1TTZ
> > 
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> > 
> 
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