[Johnson] Will be restoring a Johnson Ranger

[Gordon Gwillim]

 Thanks Pete and Bill, very interesting.  My original manual and schematic were loaned out and became someone else's property when the transmitter was sold. I guess I am not the only one to have that happen.  The manual and schematic I have now would be the later schematic with the updated keyer and modulator bias circuits.  After my father in law was finished with his CW operation, I brought the ranger home to it's storage shelf and have not touched it since.  Likely needs some work by this time.  The lineage of the Ranger is really of interest to me and I will put your emails into the manual so that I and whoever takes it home eventually will have this information. 73Gordon, VE5UJ


    On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 06:43:01 a.m. CST, William Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Hi Pete,

Thanks for all that information. I will be looking at my own Ranger to 
see which version of the keyer and bias arrangement is in it. I have the 
original manual for it so that will avoid having to open the Ranger and 
trace wiring. I believe I have the later Ranger, purpose built (memory 
you know). I want to be aware of what I am looking at when I work on it.

73,

Bill KU8H

bark less - wag more

On 2/15/22 1:30 AM, manualman at juno.com wrote:
> Let me point out that the Ranger actually had two "keyer mods" One was to
> upgrade the original Ranger with the keying mod kit. This one did not
> connect to the center tap of T3 nor were there extra taps on the power
> transformer T1. For this kit, Johnson used the T1 connections that went
> to Pins 3 and 5 of the 6AX5 low voltage rectifier.
>
> When the manufacturing design was upgraded to include the keying
> circuitry within the overall circuitry, the keying circuitry and the
> internal connections to various points within the Ranger were somewhat
> different then with the earlier Ranger and added keying kit. The power
> transformer, T1, was changed to include the two additional taps to
> connect to the cathodes of the added bias rectifier. The bias rectifier
> now supplied negative voltage to the keyer and also provided modulator
> bias via the T3 center tap. Other wiring and some component changes were
> also done when this "revised" Ranger came to market.
>
> So, if one is really curious about Ranger lineage, relative to added
> keyer circuitry or keyer mod,, you have to look very carefully as to how
> it's connected within the Ranger circuitry.
>
> Pete, wa2cwa
> www.manualman.com
>
>
> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 04:06:30 +0000 (UTC) Gordon Gwillim via Johnson
> <johnson at mailman.qth.net> writes:
>>  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
>>
>>
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