[Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

Richard Knoppow 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
Sun Feb 13 18:47:55 EST 2022


    FWIW, Bakelite was made with several kinds of fillers. Some 
paper some other materials. Not all will absorb contact cleaner. 
I tested Deoxit-5 on a Bakelite terminal strip from the junk box. 
Cleaned the whole thing. Let it dry. I measured resistance two 
ways: one with a Hewlett Packard 410-B, which will measure very 
large resistances but has low test voltage. Second was a General 
Radio Megohm meter using 600 Volts. Neither showed any increase 
in leakage over the untreated strip. I did get a definite 
increase when cleaning with acetone. Evidently, the acetone 
precipitated something out of the Bakelite. This was brown 
Bakelite of what appeared to be standard quality. While I have 
read all sorts of warnings about using Deoxit on Bakelite I have 
never had a problem with it. Just my experience.

On 2/13/2022 3:30 PM, manualman at juno.com wrote:
> There was a Johnson Viking Ranger and a Johnson Viking Ranger II. The was
> no Ranger dubbed by Johnson as "Ranger I" or "Ranger 1" no matter what
> you read.
> To tell them apart besides different paint color schemes: the Johnson
> Ranger covers 160 through 10-11 meters. The Johnson Ranger II covers 160
> through 6 meters with no position for 11 meters.
> 
> The "accessory" jack on the back of the chassis is a female 9 pin.  A
> mating 9 pin plug with defined jumpers installed needs to be plugged in
> for proper operation.
> 
> Did the transmitter work before you started changing out all the
> capacitors? If it didn't, you should have determined what the problem
> was.
> Now, with you replacing there capacitors, you can't tell if you made the
> problem with the install or the problem was from the earlier time and
> changing the caps didn't solve it.
> Personally, I never do a complete capacitor install because in most cases
> it isn't necessary and you run the risk inducing a new problem (solder
> short, wrong connection, cap installed incorrectly, etc.).
> 
> Never spray the phenolic switch wafers with Deoxit. Sparingly wipe and
> clean each contact with Deoxit. Phenolic will absorb the chemical since
> it's paper based and actually can become conductive or at least add
> resistances where none should be.
> 
> Johnson issued three schematics with changes through the life cycle of
> the first Ranger.
> 
> Pete, wa2cwa
> www.manualman.com
> 
> 
> On Sun, 13 Feb 2022 12:56:07 -0500 donhellen at roadrunner.com writes:
>> First, I don't know how to tell if this is a Ranger 2 or earlier
>> version. That
>> might make some difference in where the common failure modes can be
>> found, but
>> the caps questions should apply to all older radios, I think.
>>
>> What I would like to know is where to begin troubleshooting if after
>> I re-cap
>> the electrolytics and wax dipped caps, it still doesn't work?
>>
>> I have the plug for the back (somewhere) but if I can't find it, I
>> can make a
>> new one out of a tube plug, I believe.
>>
>> I guess I'm just asking where the common failure modes are in these
>> transmitters
>> so I can have a place to start.
>>
>> I did power it up with a variac even though I wouldn't do that now
>> with what I
>> know, but nothing arced or burned or exploded (that's good).
>>
>> If I want to "refill" the metal cap cans with new caps instead of
>> going the
>> Hayseed Hamfest replacement kit route, where is the best place to
>> buy the
>> replacement caps (both electrolytic and comparable caps to replace
>> the waxed
>> ones) from? What type are the best replacements for the paper/waxed
>> caps?
>>
>> Thanks!!!
>>
>>
>>
>> Donald KX8K
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
>> https://groups.io/g/ICOM   https://groups.io/g/Ham-Antennas
>> https://groups.io/g/HamRadioHelp    https://groups.io/g/Baofeng
>> https://groups.io/g/CHIRP  https://rf-amplifiers.groups.io/g/main
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> 
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL


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