[Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

[whitebear1122 at comcast.net]

Looks like others have answered your questions but I will add my 2 cents as
well.

1.  Ranger has a maroon cabinet with a dark grey front panel upper half
color and maroon lower half color. Ranger II has a medium to light grey
cabinet and front panel.  Ranger knobs have white pegs on the front of the
knob for pointers while Ranger II actually has a pointer if I recall.  

2.  As a lister mentioned here, it would be a good to at least get an idea
of what's wrong prior to recapping.

3.  You might consider test the power supply first. Are you power supply
voltages there?  

4.  Yeah you need that plug in the connector on the rear.  One time I
grabbed a Ranger II off the shelf after it sat for a while, plugged it in,
didn't work, and it took a few minutes before I remembered to check for the
plug.  It was gone..

5.  A common failure of the Ranger and Ranger II is R13 which is a 18K 2
watt (I think) resistor in the VFO voltage regulator tube that often burns
up because it is power underrated.  

6.  You already know about the old electrolytic caps.  My personal opinion
is that they are either bad or going bad.... 

7.  You need a good manual.  I see ManualMan has commented on here.  His
manuals are top notch.  I bought a Ranger II manual back then, and more
recently a Heathkit HW-12 Assembly Manual and they are really well made.

8.  The variac power up is good.  If no fuses blew, I'd go back in and check
the power supply voltages.  Then check the VFO to see if it's working.  Does
the "ZERO" function work?   Hopefully you have a tube test and have checked
all the tubes, especially the VFO 6UA8 (I think) and two voltage regulator
tubes.

9.  I may not be remembering correctly but I don't think there are chassis
cans in the Ranger.  I recapped my Ranger last year with the KE9PQ set on
eBay and they are all under chassis caps, again if I recall correctly.

10. I think there are very few differences between the two, it's mainly the
cabinet colors, knobs, and meter.  The Ranger II uses 7027 modulator tubes
vs the Ranger 6L6.  My Ranger now uses 7027's, required some rewiring,
because the 6L6's were dead and only had a set of 7027's in the junk box.
About 6 months later I found a set of 6L6's in the junk box..... too late,
it's got 7027's now.

Good luck.  73 Scott WA9WFA


-----Original Message-----
From: johnson-bounces at mailman.qth.net <johnson-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On
Behalf Of donhellen at roadrunner.com
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2022 11:56 AM
To: johnson at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

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