[MRCA] GRC-19 on the air

[Jason WA6BBQ]

Finally lugged the GRC-19 set I got from the estate at the 2024 MRCG West
meet up onto a bench… ibuprofen. Had successfully tested the two R-392’s
separately last weekend.

Opened the. T-195 up, had a look, did some cursory cleaning and dusting
despite being pretty clean in there. Mainly looking for things that might
go sizzle or bang.

Then concocted  power source. I have an unknown and untested PP4763, but if
I believe the ratings, trying to run it off 120VAC would make my home’s
feeble electrical system go sizzle and bang, unless I jumped through the
hoops of getting 240VAC to it, which would have been a project in of
itself.

Next best option at hand was a pair of 100AH  LiFePo3 batteries in series.
Under the best of circumstances, that’s only going to give me 26 volts and
change, not the full 28 as advised by WA7YBS in his excellent article on
his website.

Powered up last night into a KW-rated dummy load, read the manual and
ascended the not very steep (grunt) learning curve to operate, saw that it
was making a bit over 100 Watts, and seemed to be functioning mostly
properly.

Only issue is that the T-195 PTO seems to be off frequency, have to set the
dial 28 kc low to be on frequency of 7293, our only active Southern and
Central CA non-audiophile AM frequency, struck me as a place that wouldn’t
clutch pearls over a carbon microphone and dynamotor roar.

This morning with topped-off batteries at the ready, connected to the
dipole and had a brief QSO with some of the regulars, as far north as
Gilroy, and was also informed I was being heard Q5 on the Northern Utah
WebSDR. Was also complimented that my audio sounded far better than any
carbon microphone should, not sure if I’m believing that one!

So it’s alive! I just need to come up with a better power source, having a
look at that today.

How involved is it to correct the dial error? Or should I just accept that
as a quirk of 75 year old unrestored equipment?

Thanks and 73,
Jason WA6BBQ
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