[Johnson] Viking Ranger VFO Problems/Access

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

There is a mod that moves the Chernobyl resistor outside the VFO box.
Upsize the wattage rating too.

73,

Bill. KU8H


On Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:26 Mark Donaldson via Johnson <
johnson at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

>  Hi Bill,
> You have just discovered the most common problem with Rangers, Valiants
> etc., the so call Chernobyl resistor. I won't get into what is going on
> just Google it. To answer your question, you only need to remove the left
> side (as you are facing the front of the transmitter it will be on your
> left side) side panel on the VFO, don't forget the nuts on the bottom side.
> I have done several of these repairs and it can be done without further
> disassembly of the VFO. If you remove the front panel you will risk
> breaking the disk on the reduction drive.
> 73s,
> Mark WA1QHQ
>     On Monday, July 22, 2019, 10:13:19 AM EDT, Bill Stewart <
> cwopr at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>
>  GM All,
> My Ranger (manual dated 1954) VFO started drifting with key down no matter
> how long the warm-up is, so
> I took the top off the VFO compartment and found the OB2 to have a large
> white, internal, spot at the top of
> the tube. Also the area around the hole, in the phenolic board, where the
> tube goes thru, is charred and cracked.
> Obviously a lot of heat was there for a while. Also in a short check, with
> the power on, a lot of flashing inside
> the OB2 and it gets very hot. I suspect that R3 has changed value
> drastically. I was able to remove the side
> plate on the VFO and can see that R3 is cracked. Now the main question is
> does the front panel have to come
> off to get the VFO box off (I'm suspecting it does) . All the bottom nuts
> are off and only the shaft is keeping the
> box from coming off. I have taken the VFO dial off and am down to a large
> nut. Just wanna make sure before I
> get into what looks like a real P-I-B job.
>
> A bit more to the story. This Ranger has the keyer mod and the xmtr was a
> kit. The wiring technique is not all
> that good. The xmtr worked good for a while after I got it. But the keyer
> began to need adjustment. I could
> not get the adjustment needed and looking at the keyer wiring, decided to
> rewire it. The keyer worked. The
> drifting started after the keyer rewiring. Maybe coincidence or did I foul
> up something??
>
> If I ever get the VFO box off, I will cut a slot in it's front so it will
> slide off over the VFO shaft. Don't recall
> having this issue when I went into the Navigator VFO.
>
> Tnx for any tips, suggestions, etc.
> 73 de Bill K4JYS
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