[R-1051] Troubleshooting/repairing R-1051 - advice needed

[Ray Fantini]

The 1051/RT-618 or URT-23 family of radios is a little new for you! How are you planning to fit that generation of radios into NAVCOMMSTA? Is first generation of synthesized radio the next thing now that the AN/FRT-17 is done? Are you doing all the repair/ restoration work in the basement also? Or do you have a separate aria for that? Don't know how it's going for you but floor space always is at a premium at my house, don't matter how much you build it still fills up.

Ray F

-----Original Message-----
From: R-1051 [mailto:r-1051-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Nick England
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2014 12:29 PM
To: R-1051 Discussion Group
Subject: [R-1051] Troubleshooting/repairing R-1051 - advice needed

Hi gang. I am just getting my feet wet in working on the R-1051 and would like to gather a little knowledge from those more experienced.

Main question (so far) is how do you troubleshoot and repair a 6-pack? Not having a TS-xxxx as the manual recommends, is it common practice to test in the receiver with homebrew extender cables made from an old 6-pack? If so, where do I get an old 6-pack? If not, what do you recommend?

Background -
Actually I am starting with an RT-618A xcvr (part of URC-35A) but it is mostly an R-1051 and I have several R-1051's in the garage that'll get moved onto the workbench some day. So.....

First I found and fixed a fair amount of mechanical misalignment in the RF turret MHz ring - the LC strip contact blades were whacking and bending the fixed contacts (and sliding over or under rather than through, etc.). Same problem in the AM-3007 turret. I'm guessing this was the result of someone trying to pull out a turret without removing the LC strips first. --  Is this a common problem?

Once I got the turrets all aligned (and fixed some problems in the 28vdc
supply) and I started testing things, smoke started pouring out of the RF turret when I switched to 26MHz - found that the A26 strip had a short which was grounding B+. OK, the turret comes apart again and back together yet another time. I figure that short was just an odd item.

The rcvr had very low sensitivity. RF stages checked OK, but some test points on the 6-pack weren't showing much of anything on a scope. So I dug a -1051D out of the garage and swapped in a 6-pack. Voila - rcvr works fine now. But now I need to fix the original 6-pack.

So, any advice on how to work on this dense collection of circuit boards and parts will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com