[Johnson] Navigator "rebuild"

C E catman351 at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 1 23:31:10 EST 2007


All:
After laying dormant for about two years, I decided to
put my old Navigator back into operation. 

I languished on this project due to other ventures (as
is always the case) and one of my concerns was the VFO
(thinking it was like the Ranger family). Well, poking
into the unit, I was was wrong. The OA2 tube (normally
found inside the unit) was not there (in fact, there
were no sockets inside). There was a VR-150/OD3
mounted on the outside. The resistor appeared wasn't
the usual 18k unit but rather a 47 k item. I found
that puzzling. I have to refer to a manual (but it is
MIA for now). 

After checking out all the tubes and doing a general
cleaning, I rewired the power cable. Sorry but I
retained the two pronged fused plug. I later "fired
up" the unit by replacing the 5U4 rectifier with a s/s
substitute and slowly brought up the voltages on the
tx. Needless to say, after adjusting the keyer pot,
the Nav sounds great, putting out 20-25 watts of clean
pure CW signal 

Luckily no component level changes. I listened on my
trusty Hallicrafters SX-100 for any humming or any
other noise problems. I'm satisfied the old girl is
working perfectly. 


The next hurdle was to reinstall the Navigator in the
Dee Almquist painted cabinet Needless to say, Dee's
work is marvelous. The maroon with the clearcoat is
exquisite. I used nyloned backed binder hardware to
install the cabinet on to the Nav chassis. I also
previously replaced the old rubber feet with new items
from a local electronic shop. Fits like NOS.bolted the
rear of the chassis and now the Navigator is one fine
looking piece of equipment ready to "come back" on the
air for future SKN's or general BA "RF burnin'". 

Cal, N6KYR/8


 
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