[Johnson] Ranger Problems

[Jim Brannigan]

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.

Jim



>I recently came by a Ranger 1 which has the keying circuit changes via
> Johnson. It also has a PTT modification. I have replaced the electrolitic
> caps and tubulars and the transmitter makes full output.
> There remains two problems that I have spent some time on trying to 
> resolve
> with no success. When the radio is first keyed up, the modulator resting
> current moves quickly to about half of what the resting value should be, 
> and
> then, with in a second, moves up to about 65 ma which is about what it
> should be. The audio gain control must be turn up virtually all the way to
> fully modulate the transmitter and then as you talk the radio slowly 
> begins
> to over modulate requiring a reduction in audio gain down finally to about
> where it should be with a D104. I have checked all tubes and resistor 
> values
> as well as voltage values and simply can not find anything wrong. If 
> anybody
> else has experianced any weird problems like this with their ranger or if
> you have any idea what may be causing this please let me know cause I am
> reaching the point where I do not even know where to look next for a
> solution.
> Thanks
> Tom
> Ae8o dreamlobo at cableone.net