[Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

[Gordon Gwillim]

 I bought the original Ranger that had been built from a kit,  in 56. The guy sold it to me for half price. I think he was going after one of the new ones with the grid block keying. This one worked well and kept me out of trouble on the bands for many years.  I used it mostly on CW and the keying was not spectacular but when you are young you are just happy to be on the air. 
The Ranger with the grid block system has two extra taps on the power transformer for the bias rectifier which was part of the added circuitry.  I think the change would be worth while but I haven't gotten to it yet. 
Gordon , VE5UJ




    On Monday, February 14, 2022, 10:30:17 a.m. CST, Chris Farley via Johnson <johnson at mailman.qth.net> wrote:  
 
 David there was also a keyer kit for the early version without a T3 center tap!  I don't remember specifics, but do recall the keyer deck had several large resistors beneath it-  likely serving as a V divider.
C

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
 
  On Mon, Feb 14, 2022 at 8:53 AM, Dave Harmon<k6xyzdave at gmail.com> wrote:  About 30 years ago I acquired by a roundabout way a first version Ranger
that had the keyer kit installed.
To avoid a looong discussion of how I got involved with that ckt....I can
say that the way to determine if the keyer kit was added is to look at T3.
The original first version of the Ranger does not have a T3 secondary tap
from the keyer bias.
The next version schematic dated 11-5-54 shows the keyer and T3 tap.
I've never been able to find any installation info from the kit for the
keyer.
I still have this Ranger and plan to service it again soon.....for the 3rd
time!
There were 3 published schematics for the Maroon colored transmitter, the
original had no date, next was 11-5-54, then 10-17-57.
Great transmitter.
The Ranger ll that had 6m is a different transmitter.

73

David Harmon
K6XYZ
Sperry, OK


-----Original Message-----
From: johnson-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:johnson-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of hamfish at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2022 7:58 AM
To: 'William Cromwell' <wrcromwell at gmail.com>; johnson at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

So far there is one item not mentioned in the comments. The Ranger was
introduced in 1954 and does not have grid block keying. Some refer to this
model as a "Ranger". I have one it was built as a kit and has 160 thru 10-11
meters. From other accounts grid block keying was added in 1955. Check your
ARRL handbooks! This model has the same paint scheme and bands. EF Johnson
later offered grid block keying kits to modify the 1st version of Rangers.
At this point do we have a Ranger and a Ranger 1????????????? Does it
matter???? How does one know if the grid block keying kit was added later???
Then later EF Johnson offered the Ranger 2 (different paint scheme, 6 meters
rather than 11 meters). 

Label them as you please, just know what you are working on, use the correct
schematic. Have fun!

Regards,
Craig
WD8KDG