[NJARC] SX-16 Repairs

[antqradio at juno.com]

The local oscillator may not be working.  Either the tube itself, some
crud
in the main tuning capacitor or bent plates or a broken wire.  Use
another
receiver to see if you can find the local oscillator signal.
Check tubes, DC resistance of coils, and band switch contacts.  Eyeball
everything in the RF / LO against the schematic, there maybe a wiring
error.
If you don't have a schematic, you can download one at BAMA:
http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/hallicra/sx16/
Finding a good cosmetic example of an old Hallicrafters is the hard part,
getting it running should be just a minor inconvenience!
Let us know what you find out,
Jim

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 07:35:19 -0500 carolew <carolew at bellatlantic.net>
writes:
> Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
> _______________________________________________
> Jim, it's a horror show. I saw the SX-16 on one of those ham swap 
> sites.
> I've bought stuff on these sites before without a problem. I 
> usually
> exchange e-mails with the seller to get a feel for him. If I'm 
> convinced
> that he's a real "radio guy" and not a quick-buck artist, I will 
> trust
> him. Real "radio guys" will usually not burn you.
> 
> Here are the issues:
> 
> 1. In his e-mails, the seller told me it works "well" and "good." 
> When
> it arrived, it didn't work at all. The audio works and I can get a 
> 456
> kHz signal through the grid of the mixer but lose the signal before
> that. That suggests problems in the rf section. I buy only working
> radios because I know my technical limitations. I can recap and 
> restore
> a set but am a lousy diagnostician. The radio arrived intact and
> undamaged. I fail to see how shipping could cause a problem in the 
> rf
> section.
> 
> 2. The seller told me it was "all original." He said that at most,
> "some" of the paper caps "may" have been replaced. The reality was 
> that
> all but one had been replaced, mostly with recent vintage orange 
> drops.
> Since I love to restore and recap boat anchors, I would never have
> bought a set that had already been recapped. Interestingly, when 
> the
> seller e-mailed me pictures of the set, his pictures showed the 
> front
> and top of the set. No picture of the underside of the chassis. I 
> would,
> of course, have immediately noticed the orange drops if he had sent 
> me a
> photo of the underside.
> 
> 3. There were a lot of signs pointing to a recently botched attempt 
> at
> restoration. I already mentioned the orange drops. The power cord 
> was
> polarized. One tube (a 6K7) had the grid cap soldered to the top of 
> the
> tube. Another (a 6J7) was shoved into the socket with a broken base. 
> The
> antenna terminal was floating inside the chassis. There was nothing 
> to
> hold it to the hole in the chassis where it should set.
> 
> I'm going to have to eat this one. The seller is willing to return 
> the
> purchase price ($135) if I ship the radio back to him. The shipping
> cost, combined with my initial cost to ship it to me, totals $80. 
> That
> means that my loss would be $80. That also assumes that the seller 
> would
> return the purchase price to me once he got the radio back. I 
> suspect
> that once he got it, he would claim that I (or the shipper) broke 
> the
> radio. He would then refuse a refund and tell me he would ship it 
> back
> to me if I pay him another $40 for shipping. In that case, I would 
> be
> out $215 and he would have the radio.
> 
> 
> Joe Connor
> 
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