[Milsurplus] R-808 Tips

[David Stinson]

Had a few people now ask me about the R-808.
It's been years and years but here's what I remember:


The power supply can have filter problems like any other,
but the biggest problem I found in -808s is mechanical 
instability. I've worked on three and they all had that
same problem, although I've heard of some that didn't.
In each case, removing the big RF deck under the chassis
completely, De-Ox-It on the connectors and re-seating it
solved the problems. 
You have to align the the tuning dial a certain way to remove
the module- it's pretty obvious how it comes out.
There's one white wire bolted to a terminal and a
couple of shielded connectors to unplug- BNC I think.
Turn some obvious screw-downs and the whole RF deck
comes out in one big piece.
On two sets, there was also a problem with a connection
at a tube socket with no solder.
I inspected every "nook and cranny" but found only
the one no-solder terminal (on the main chassis) in each.
After correcting those, the sets worked well.
Once the set was stabilized, I enjoyed using the internal 
converter to copy RTTY on my Model 19 of blessed memory.
 
73 DE Dave AB5S