[Premium-Rx] Harris RF-590 or R-2368/URR VFD Replacement thoughts

[Berndt Josef Wulf]

G'day Todd,

I replaced the VFDs on all of my Harris equipment, see link below.

https://www.ping.net.au/index.php?mode=vfd

At the bottom of this page is a picture showing a RF1310 exciter that
had both displays replaced. The RF1310, R-2368/URR, RF7210A, RF-7405
and RF590 all share the same VFDs.

I found a VFD for the frequency display with the same pin-outs thats
mounts onto the original PCB. These alternative VFDs were manufactured
by Newhaven that are also no longer in production.

I have a number of displays available for sale. Send me a private email
if interested.

73, Berndt
VK5ABN

On Mon, 2020-09-14 at 10:17 -0400, Todd K. Rodgers wrote:
> Hello All:
> 
>   I've just acquired a very nice Harris R-2368/URR receiver. 
> Unfortunately, both the mode and frequency display VFD's are aging
> as 
> they do. In my searching, it appears that the actual displays (the
> VFD's 
> themselves) are long out of stock/manufacture, and Harris assemblies 
> have been hard to find (my experience, so far). My displays are
> still 
> quite readable, but...
> 
>   I've begun to think about building replacement boards with either 
> LED's (both 14 and 7 segments, as appropriate for each display type)
> or, 
> use either OLED or TFT LCD arrays to replace the VFD displays. The
> LED 
> solution is relatively straight forward, but I'm intrigued by using
> an 
> image display to get the appearance to look like the original VFD 
> elements. If an image based solution is implemented, one could
> change 
> the "font" of the display, provide different colors, etc.
> Additionally, 
> with some additional wiring internal to the receiver, and the
> expanded 
> "screen" real estate, one could imagine a digital clone of the
> signal 
> strength/audio output meter. Perhaps there are other new information 
> display options as well (COR status, mirroring of existing single-
> LED 
> status, etc.).
> 
>   OLED's also age (20,000 hour MTBF, or slow dimming), so some 
> experimentation of making them easy to replace (and remain available)
> is 
> needed... or just go with the TFT display choice. If I pursue the
> image 
> display solution, a processor would be required to store "fonts" 
> (perhaps stored on an internal SD Card) and to assert chip select 
> properly to each digit in the display. This processor could be WiFI 
> enabled (along with a simple web server), so that one could change 
> display behavior without any wiring... all through a browser. No new 
> holes need to be drilled to implement.
> 
>   Anyway, still just some sketches on paper, although I've acquired
> a 
> variety of properly sized display to start playing with. The goal
> would 
> be to design, build & test a drop-in replacement that would connect
> to 
> other front panel boards as the current VFD display do (ribbon
> cable).
> 
>   Curious to get feedback from the group:
> 
>   * Are replacement OEM displays available? From where? At what cost?
> I
>     am aware of a ham in Australia (or New Zealand) that was able to
>     design a custom circuit board and source 14 segment VFD's that
> drop
>     in, but not sure if he's still doing this and if the VFD's are
> still
>     available at reasonable cost.
>   * Are there other drop-in replacement solutions out there?
>   * If a 7/14 segment LED solution is developed, I've yet to find a 7
>     segment display with both "comma" and "period" elements. Does
> anyone
>     care if there's no comma?
>   *  From the "purist" point of view... is having anything other than
>     the original (or near replacement) VFD display "heresy"?
>   * Is the image display version of things (including different
> fonts,
>     new modes of display, WiFi, etc.) just way overkill? Or, is there
>     some interest in this.
> 
>   Likely I'll start to work on this in the next few weeks, and could 
> offer up the solution (circuit boards, parts, maybe fully assembled 
> things) in the next few months. Just curious if there's any interest
> in 
> acquisition of the output of my efforts (and if yes, I'll get
> quantity 
> pricing on things as part of the design effort) and what would be a 
> reasonable cost (I'm not looking to make a living with this task)
> would be.
> 
>    Any feedback, most appreciated...
> 
> best 73's
> 
> 
> Todd, KC1SQ
> 
> 
> 
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