[Johnson] Viking Ranger VFO Problems/Access

[Ronnie Hull]

Chernobyl resistor! I love it! Cuz it truly is exactly that!!

Ronnie W5SUM

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 22, 2019, at 10:47 AM, Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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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