[R-390] New owner with (probably dumb) questions
mikea
[email protected]
Sun, 20 Apr 2003 10:51:25 -0500
On Sun, Apr 20, 2003 at 11:30:20AM -0400, Darryl Jones wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just acquired my first R-390A on Friday for the princely sum of $2 LOL!
> Well, as you'd expect with a rig you only paid $2 for, there are things that
> are missing - a screw from the front panel, and most notably the IERC tube
> sheilds. I was wondering if anyone knows of a source for a complete set
> (these are all silver) or maybe even has a spare set FS?
> My other question is has anyone encountered a bad Dial Lock, and if so,
> how is it fixed? The only other thing is the Zero Adjuster and Antenna Trim
> units...both go round 360 degrees. I'm assuming that the Antenna Trim is
> supposed to stop at -4 and again at +4 as that's where it's marked, as well
> as the Zero Adjust? Or do I have a problem with these?
If your new rig has an Antenna Trim control, then it's not an R-390A,
but the less common and (IMHO, anyway) more desirable R-390 -- unless
you have a variant I never heard of. WHat does the nomenclature plate
say, _exactly_?
Antenna Trim on mine does have unlimited travel, but the Dial Lock
does _not_: yours should stop after a reasonable number of turns
clockwise. It pushes in on a clutch that disengages the frequency
indicator from the tuning mechanism, so that one can set the numbers
to some multiple of 100 KHz, then turn the Zero Adjuster to disengage
the clutch and set the electronics to that frequency without moving
the numbers from where they're set.
Dial Lock is just a mechanical clamp that closes on a disc attached to
the main (Kilocycles) tuning shaft; it's in two parts, plus a shaft
attached to the Dial Lock knob, and it may be that the moving part of
the clamp is missing or mispositioned.
> I changed the power cord to 3 wire as per mil spec, and fired it up, but
> some
> of the tubes that tested as "good" (upper 60's) seemed to balk and I don't
> have any audio at all, and the Carrier Level meter is around the 60 mark
> with
> no antenna plugged in at the back.
It is possible -- even probable -- that the power supply filter caps,
and many other caps in the radio, are leaky and/or out of tolerance.
The filter caps can be re-formed: bring the rig up _slowly_ on a
Variac, starting off at something like 50VAC input.
You know, I hope, that the chassis will be AC-hot (about 55VAC) if the
rig _isn't_ grounded, and that if it's pugged into a circuit protected
by a Ground Fault Interrupter, then the GFI will operate every time
you turn it on.
--
Mike Andrews
[email protected]
Tired old sysadmin since 1964